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V-VI 



English Culture in Virginia 



*.s* 



"Alas! how little from the grave we claim! 
Thou but preservest a face, and I a name." 

— Pope, Epistle to Jervas. 



JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY STUDIES 

IN 

Historical and Political Science 

HERBERT B. ADAMS, Editor 



History is past Politics and Politics present History — Freeman 



SEVENTH SERIES 



V-VI 



English Culture in Virginia 



A Study op the Gilmer Letters and an Account of the 

English Professors obtained by Jefferson 

for the University of Virginia 

By WILLIAM P. TRENT, M. A. 

Professor of History in the University of the South 




BALTIMORE 
N. Murray, Publication Agent, Johns Hopkins University 
May and June, 1889 
03 



LA' 

n 



COPYRIGHT, 1889, BY N. MURRAY. 



JOHN MORPHY & CO., PRINTERS. 
BALTIMORE. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



' Page. 

Introduction 7 

Chapter I. The Development op the University Idea 9 

II. Francis Walker Gilmer 27 

III. The Law Propessorship 48 

IV. The Mission 55 

V. Conclusion 115 



INTRODUCTION. 



About a year ago the Editor of these Studies honored me by 
desiring my cooperation in the work he had undertaken with 
regard to the history of education in Virginia. I accordingly 
furnished two chapters for his monograph on " Thomas Jefferson 
and the University of Virginia," published by the United States 
Bureau of Education, Circular of Information, No. 1, 1888. -But 
one seldom begins a line of investigation without being led to 
deeper research than he had at first intended ; and so it was in 
the present case. 

This new and independent study has been mainly developed 
from the correspondence of Francis Walker Gilmer. Who Mr. 
Gilmer was and what he did — things worth knowing but known 
to very few — will appear fully hereafter, for even the author of a 
" study " may occasionally borrow a device from the novelist and 
keep his readers in suspense ; but it will be necessary to explain 
at the outset how the aforesaid correspondence came into my 
hands. The facts of the case are briefly these. Dr. Adams was 
informed by a gentlemen whom he had consulted about the work 
previously mentioned, that a volume of letters relating to the 
early history of the University of Virginia was in the hands of 
John Gilmer, Esquire, of Chatham, Virginia. A letter to that 
gentleman brought a courteous reply and the desired volume. 
Being much pressed by his professional and other duties, Dr. 
Adams handed me this voluminous correspondence with the re- 
quest that I would examine it and express an opinion as to its 
value with regard to that period of the University's history on 
which he was specially engaged. I did examine it with great 
care, and found that, although it did not bear directly on the 
field of investigation Dr. Adams had chosen, it nevertheless 

7 



8 Introduction. [196 

opened up a new field of hardly inferior interest. Upon this 
report Dr. Adams and Mr. Gilmer were kind enough to intrust 
the letters to me that I might complete, a study, the outlines of 
which were already developing themselves in my own mind. In 
a letter to my mother I alluded to the fact that this task had 
been confided to me. She at once wrote me that she was certain 
another volume of a similar character was in existence, and that 
she would endeavor to obtain it for me. 

Her statement proved true and the companion volume is now 
in my hands through the kindness of Mrs. Emma Breckinridge, 
of " Grove Hill," Botetourt County, Virginia. Mrs. Breckin- 
ridge is a sister of Mr. John Gilmer and a daughter of Peachy 
Gilmer, the eldest brother of the subject of this sketch. This 
second volume is even more invaluable than the first as it con- 
tains all of Gilmer's own letters to Mr. Jefferson, &c, and also 
throws many valuable side lights upon the internal history of 
Virginia for the period from 1815 to 1825. How and why these 
letters, nearly 700 in number, were bound and preserved will 
appear in the sequel. It will be sufficient here to ask indulgence 
for the mistakes which have doubtless crept into my work, and 
to return my hearty thanks to the friends who have assisted me 
in an investigation not wanting in complexity and minute details. 

William P. Trent. 

The University of the South, 
December 1, 1888. 



ENGLISH CULTURE IN VIRGINIA. 



CHAPTER I. 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE UNIVERSITY 
IDEA. 

At the beginning of this century what culture Virginia had 
was not Virginian. This is not a Virginia bull, but a deplor- 
able fact. There was no lack of great men or of highly culti- 
vated men. A Virginian occupied the Presidential chair, and 
three others had it in reversion. Patrick Henry was dead, 
but John Randolph, by his eloquence and wit and sarcasm, 
was making Congress doubt whether it loved him or hated 
him. At the Richmond bar were Marshall and Wickham 
and Wirt, while at Norfolk men were beginning to prophesy 
great things of an eloquent young lawyer, — Littleton Waller 
Tazewell. There were hundreds of well educated men riding- 
over their plantations or congregating on court day either to 
hear or to make speeches — and even the bar of as small a place 
as Winchester could boast of speakers whom these educated 
men would willingly hear. Although there was a servile, 
ignorant mass beneath them, this could not then be helped, 
nor had the habits of inaction, thereby necessarily engendered, 
extended as fully as they afterwards did, to the affairs of mind. 
Travel was not uncommon. One old gentleman was " gigo- 
maniac" enough to drive to Boston in his gig every other 
summer, the return visit of his New England friends being 
2 9 



10 English Culture in Virginia. [198 

made, it is supposed, during the summers his gig was mend- 
ing. Although Mr. Jefferson and his colleagues had swept 
away every vestige they could of the feudal system, primo- 
geniture iu education was an every day fact — unjust as primo- 
geniture generally is, but still a bright spot in the history of 
education in Virginia. Not a few families managed to send 
one representative at least to Europe for study and travel, and 
that representative was usually the eldest son. If England 
seemed too far, one or more of the sons went to Princeton or 
to William and Mary — many shutting their eyes to the fact 
that the latter historic place was even then slowly dying. 
Edinburgh, of course, was the goal of a young medical stu- 
dent's desires ; but if he could not " compass this golden 
hope," Philadelphia was willing to receive him hospitably 
and to give him the benefit of her lectures and museums for a 
good round price. Books and libraries were not abundant; 
but the books were at least good, however exorbitant their 
cost — a serious item in the culture of a state fast ruining itself 
financially by an extravagant hospitality. 

In some families it had been a custom to direct the factor 
in London to send back with the proceeds of the tobacco, a 
pipe of Madeira and a fixed amount of current literature — 
and hence it is that one occasionally comes across a rare first 
edition when rummaging the library of an old country house. 
Now if a boy had a taste for reading, he needed not to grow 
up an ignoramus even if he were not sent to college ; but if 
he preferred his gun and horse, there were few to thwart him, 
his father having to look after the estate, tutors and school- 
masters being rarae aves, and the mother having enough on 
her hands in the housekeeping and the bringing up of her 
daughters, who, though they knew nothing of moral philos- 
sophy and aesthetics, had, nevertheless read Pope and the 
Spectator, and kept in their memories household receipts of 
considerable claim to genealogical pride. 

But I said that the culture in Virginia was not Virginian, 
and I have not sufficiently explained my meaning. I do not 



199] English Culture in Virginia. 11 

mean to imply the same reproach as is implied in the hack- 
neyed invocation for "the great American novel." The cul- 
ture in Virginia was naturally English modified by circum- 
stances peculiar to a slaveholding, sparsely settled society. It 
was modified, too, by the birth of the feeling of independence 
and by the desire to try wings not fully fledged. All this 
was natural and is certainly not reprehensible. But there is 
another sense in which culture in Virginia was not Virginian, 
which if it does not imply reproach, must certainly cause a 
feeling of regret even to us of this late day. I refer to the 
almost universal lack of any primary and secondary instruc- 
tion worthy of the name, and to the comparative lack of 
university instruction. William and Mary College had for 
many years done a great work in Virginia, but though buoyed 
up for a time by the wisdom of Mr. Jefferson as a visitor, and 
of Bishop Madison as president, its influence was fast waning 
and, before the first quarter of the century had gone by, was 
practically null. Hampden Sidney seems to have been little 
more than a high-school, and it has at all times been sectarian. 
Washington College (since Washington and Lee University) 
did not exert a large influence, 1 and hence it was that Princeton 
drew away sons from nearly every Virginia family of import- 
ance. When the foundation of a state university was being 
urged upon the legislature, a prominent Presbyterian clergy- 
man of Richmond, Dr. Rice, made a calculation and found 
that over $250,000 were annually sent out of Virginia to sup- 
port youths at the various foreign schools and colleges. This 
does not look as if many Virginians patronized the three insti- 
tutions above mentioned ; but at any rate, it shows that a 
university of high grade was one of the needs of the people. 2 



1 In one of the early volumes of Dr. Rice's " Virginia Evangelical and 
Literary Magazine " (I think the sixth) a short account of the studies pur- 
sued at this college and a list of the instructors will be found. From this 
the truth of the above statement will be apparent. 

'See Dr. Adams' "Jefferson and the Univ. of Va.," p. 98. 



12 English Culture in Virginia. [200 

With regard to secondary and primary instruction the out- 
look was decidedly worse. Towns like Richmond had, of 
course, fair schools ; but the country districts were almost 
entirely unprovided with even the rudest village schools. 
From a letter of John Taylor of Caroline, found among the 
Gilmer papers, I learned that there was a fairly prosperous 
boarding school in that county in 1817 — but this was the 
exception, not the rule. It is true that just before the begin- 
ning of the century the legislature had passed a law with 
regard to the establishment of primary schools ; but this law 
had been a dead letter because it was left to the county judges 
to decide whether such schools were necessary or not, and 
because the judges were, as might have been expected, either 
too conservative or too lazy to attend to such an innovation 
or such a small matter as a primary school. Education in 
Virginia, then, may be said to have been at a stand still, or 
rather on the decline, when Mr. Jeiferson gave up his federal 
honors and betook himself to Monticello. 1 

The short annals of our country, however little they are 
attended to, are even in times of peace by no means destitute 
of " moving incidents ; " and, though for the reader's sake 
I forbear the usual quotation from Milton, I cannot refrain 
from dwelling upon one of them. Although one may doubt 
whether Jefferson's mind was of the highest order, it can 
hardly be denied that he has impressed his personality and 
his doctrines more strongly upon posterity than has any 
other American. Although his brilliant rival's influence is 
still to be felt in our federal finances, and although Andrew 
Jackson is the representative of many distinctively American 
political ideas, it would still seem that a larger number of 
our countrymen look to Jefferson as the leader of their Nov- 
ember choral song than to any other of our statesmen, living 



1 The laudable efforts of the Scotch Irish settlers to provide education for 
their families ought not to be overlooked ; but these men were poor and 
unable to accomplish great things. 



201] English Culture in Virginia. 13 

or dead — and I know not of a better test of creative genius 
in politics. It was this man who left the sphere of national 
affairs to impress himself upon Virginia education ; and I 
cannot but contradict myself and say that his victory should 
be " no less renowned." 

It is a glorious picture — to see a man who has tasted 
the sweetness of power, a man who could reasonably look 
forward to the ease and comfort of a dignified retirement, a 
man who, if he must work, might at least turn his talents 
to account in building up a fortune already shattered by an 
extravagant generosity, becoming the foremost in a move- 
ment, properly devolving on younger men, an arduous task 
well nigh impossible of success — the task of raising Virginia 
from the slough of ignorance and inaction. This he accom- 
plished, and although it seems necessary for the authorities of 
the University of Virginia to state in their annual announce- 
ments that their institution was founded by Thomas Jef- 
ferson, there are a few men living who know the last work 
of the old patriot was as great and glorious as any of the 
successes of his vigorous manhood. 1 A short sketch of this 
work seems necessary as an introduction to the task I have 
undertaken of giving to the world some account of the labors 



1 This cannot be said of his latest biographer, Mr. John T. Morse, Jr., who 
devotes only thirteen very general lines to what Mr. Jefferson deemed worthy 
to form one of the three services to his country for which posterity were 
to thank him when looking upon his tomb. Even a professedly poli- 
tical biography should have said more than this, for assuredly a statesman's 
attitude toward popular education must count for much when we come 
to estimate his statesmanship. Mr. James Parton devoted over eight 
pages to the subject and was thoughtful and painstaking enough to write 
to the chairman of the faculty (Col. C. S. Venable) for information about 
the University. In this connection it may not be amiss to quote Mr. 
Madison. "The University of Virginia, as a temple dedicated to science 
and liberty, was, after his retirement from the political sphere, the object 
nearest his heart and so continued to the close of his life. His devotion 
to it was intense and his exertions untiring. It bears the stamp of his 
genius and will be a noble monument of his fame." Madison's Writings, 
Cong. Ed. 1865, III, 533. 



14 English Culture in Virginia. [202 

of one who was not the least of Mr. Jefferson's coadjutors in 
this work of Virginia's redemption. 

About the year 1814 certain monies found themselves in 
the hands of the trustees of an institution still in embryo — 
the Albemarle Academy. These trustees were the leading 
men of the county and among them Mr. Jefferson towered — 
physically as well as intellectually. How to spend the money 
most profitably was, of course, the paramount question. In 
a letter to his nephew, Peter Carr, one of the trustees, Jeffer- 
son sketched a plan of what Virginia education ought to be — 
a plan legitimately evolved from his bill of 1779 for the 
more general diffusion of knowledge. This letter was pub- 
lished in the Richmond Enquirer of September 7, 1814, 
and of course attracted great attention not only on account 
of the fame of its writer, but also on account of the wisdom 
and boldness of the scheme which it proposed. So compre- 
hensive was this scheme that many a conservative head was 
shaken, some going so far as to say that the old philosopher 
was in his dotage. But no chemist has ever been more 
familiar with the properties of common substances, than was 
Mr. Jefferson with the characteristics of his fellow citizens. 
He knew the pulse of Virginia public opinion to a beat, and 
he felt that he would succeed through the very boldness of 
his plans. It was easy enough to persuade the trustees of 
Albemarle Academy to petition the legislature that a col- 
lege might be substituted for a school — Central College also 
destined to remain in the embryo state. It was not difficult 
to obtain the consent of the legislature that Albermarle 
Academy should cease to be and Central College begin to 
be — for as yet that very sensitive nerve of the body politic, 
the financial nerve, had not been bunglingly touched. And 
so during the session of 1815-16 Central College in the 
County of Albermarle was duly established and given a 
board of trustees. Three members of this board have some 
claim to remembrance on the part of posterity — they were 
Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and James Monroe. There 



203] English Culture in Virginia. 15 

were others, too, who shall not go unnoticed. Possibly many 
thought that the establishment of this new college near his 
favorite town of Charlottesville, which he would fain have 
had the capital of the state, would satisfy Mr. Jefferson and 
enable him to die in peace. But the shrewd old gentleman 
was by no means satisfied ; he bided his time, however, for 
now he saw light ahead, having a fellow workman whom his 
heart loved. 

If Mr. Jefferson was the father of the University of Vir- 
ginia Joseph Carrington Cabell certainly took infinite pains 
in teaching the child to walk. Born in 1778 of a distin- 
guished and patriotic father, Colonel Nicholas Cabell, he was 
now (1817) in the prime of manhood. After graduating at 
William and Mary he had gone to Europe for his health, 
and, having recruited that, had studied in more than one 
of the leading universities. While in Switzerland, he had 
visited and conversed with Pestalozzi, and thus began that 
subtle connection of the University of Virginia with great 
men, which I hope to bring out strongly in the following 
pages. Meeting with President Jefferson on his return to 
this country, he began an intimacy which only ceased twenty 
years afterward at the death of the venerable statesman — an 
intimacy by which Mr. Jefferson was finally enabled to see 
his glorious idea realized in very fact. 

Declining all offers of diplomatic position under the gen- 
eral government, Mr. Cabell plunged into the politics of his 
state, actuated by the idea so prevalent at the time that more 
distinction awaited the statesman in this circumscribed sphere 
than could possibly be obtained in the larger one of federal 
affairs. He was now an influential member of the state senate 
when Mr. Jefferson enlisted his aid in behalf of his pet 
schemes. That aid was willingly and efficiently vouchsafed, 
and has been commemorated by the publication of the Jef- 
ferson-Cabell Correspondence, a work containing valuable 
information but not so sifted and arranged as to be of much 



16 English Culture in Virginia. [204 

use to the general reader. 1 The rest of this chapter will, 
however, be mainly derived from it. 

On July 28, 1817, a called meeting of the trustees of the 
Central College was held at Mr. Madison's seat, Montpelier, 
in Orange County. There were present Thomas Jefferson, 
James Madison, Joseph C. Cabell, and John H. Cocke. The 
latter gentleman (1780-1866) was, from the beginning, a great 
friend to the university. He had attained some distinction in 
the war of 1812 as an efficient general, though inclining to the 
martinet. He was also known far and wide for his temper- 
ance proclivities. But we have more especially to notice the 
first steps taken toward importing culture into Virginia in the 
shape of efficient teachers. We find the following record spread 
upon the minutes of this meeting : 

"It is agreed that application be made to Dr. Knox, of 
Baltimore, to accept the Professorship of Languages, Belles- 
Lettres, Rhetoric, History and Geography ; and that an inde- 
pendent salary of five hundred dollars, with a perquisite of 
twenty-five dollars for each pupil, together with chambers for 
his accommodation, be allowed him as a compensation for his 
services, lie finding the necessary assistant ushers." 

If the reader be curious to know what kind of a Doctor this 
gentleman was, I take pleasure in informing him that he was 
a clergyman, and that, although the second man called to a 
chair in Mr. Jefferson's college was an undoubted liberal, the 
first was highly orthodox. I leave this fact to those who, 
after sixty years, have not ceased from the hue and cry raised 
when Dr. Cooper was elected a professor in Central College. 

But although two deists voted for the Rev. Dr. Knox as 
the first professor in their new college, I would not have it 
supposed that Mr. Jefferson was not disappointed. The fol- 
lowing extract from a letter to Mr. Cabell, of January 5, 



1 " Early History of the University of Virginia as contained in the 
letters of Thomas Jefferson and Joseph C. Cabell, &c." Richmond, J. W. 
Randolph, 1856. 



205] ftnglish Culture in Virginia. 17 

1815, will give the reader some idea of what that disappoint- 
ment must have been : 

" I think I have it now in my power to obtain three of the 
ablest characters in the world to fill the higher professorships 
of what in the plan is called the second, or general grade of 
education ; [he refers here to his letter to Peter Can", which 
the reader can find in the Jefferson-Cabell correspondence, 
page 384] three such characters as are not in a single univer- 
sity of Europe ; and for those of languages and mathematics, 
a part of the same grade, able professors doubtless could also 
be readily obtained. With these characters, I should not be 
afraid to say that the circle of the sciences composing that 
second, or general grade, would be more profoundly taught 
here than in any institution in the United States, and I might 
go farther." ' The three characters alluded to were Say, the 
great economist, who had recently written to Mr. Jefferson, 
proposing to come and settle near Monticello, a design which 
he never carried out ; Dr. Thomas Cooper, of whom more 
anon ; and possibly, nay probably, the Abb6 Correa, a pro- 
found natural historian then lecturing in Philadelphia, and 
likely to be often introduced into these pages. 2 What wonder 
that Mr. Jefferson felt disappointed in having no one to vote 
for but Dr. Knox, of Baltimore ! 

The next meeting of the trustees was held at Charlottesville 
on the 7th of October, 1817, and we find the following entry, 
which is of importance to us : 

1 Jefferson-Cabell Correspondence, p. 37. 

2 Dr. Adams suggests, p. 65, that Destutt Tracy was the third character, 
because of his attainments as an " ideologist." This is by no means improb- 
able ; but Correa was omniscient and the date of the above letter tallies so 
well with his visit to Monticello that I still hold to the above opinion. 
Besides the whole subject of moral philosophy would thus have been in- 
trusted to a man not identified with our people — a thing which Jefferson 
was always opposed to. This objection would not have applied to Cooper, 
who could have taught Ideology, Law, and almost everything else — 
while Correa could have taught the rest ! Besides Say and Tracy would 
have clashed, both being economists. 



18 English Culture in Virginia. [206 

" On information that the Rev. Mr. Knox, formerly thought 
of for a professor of languages, is withdrawn from business, 
the order of July the 28th is rescinded, and it is resolved 
to offer, in the first place, the professorship of Chemistry, &c, 
to Doct. Thomas Cooper of Pennsylvania, addiug to it that of 
law, with a fixed salary of $1,000, and tuition fees of $20 from 
each of his students, to be paid by them, &c." ' 

Here it seems proper to say a word or two with regard to 
this remarkable man. Doctor Thomas Cooper was born in 
London in 1759 and died in Columbia, S. C, in 1840. He 
practiced law in England, and was one of the representatives 
sent by the English democratic clubs to France during the 
Revolution. I find his different vocations summed up in an 
amusing way by a half mad philosopher and schoolmaster, 
James Ogilvie, of whom I shall have more to say hereafter. 
In a letter to Francis Walker Gilmer, Ogilvie says of Cooper : 
" He has undergone as many metamorphoses as Proteus. Ovid 
would certainly have immortalized him. In the course of the 
last twenty years he has been Farmer, Lawyer, Patriot, Judge, 
Belles-lettres cognoscenti and Professor of Chemistry, to 
which will shortly be added Doctor in Medicine and Professor 
of Law. As farmer he spent all his money, as lawyer he 
made some — as patriot the Federalists imprisoned him — as 
Judge the Democrats became enraged at him. Then the Fed- 
eralists made him professor of Chemistry, at which he remains 
— .... He became weary of living single and married 
about twenty months ago, the consequence is he has a young 
daughter." The best part of this amusing catalogue is that it 
is every word true. To this list of callings I can add that of 
calico printing in Manchester, at which he failed, and of 
statute-revising in South Carolina — at which he died. He 
came to this country in 1795 and settled with Priestley at Lan- 
caster, Pennsylvania, in which state most of the exploits cele- 
brated by Ogilvie were performed. After being compelled by 

' Jefferson and Cabell Correspondence, p. 397. 



207] English Culture in Virginia. 19 

the clamor raised about his religious opinions to give up all 
idea of entering Mr. Jefferson's new institution, he went to 
South Carolina and became connected with the college at 
Columbia. He was a truly remarkable man, and , published 
treatises on almost every known subject, beginning with Jus- 
tinian's Institutes. 

But returning from this digression, we find Mr. Jefferson 
more hopeful, now that it looks as if he were going to get 
at least one of his three " characters." Why not take advan- 
tage of the annual report that must be made by the trustees 
to the legislature and suggest that instead of Central College 
(good in itself, but still a mere college) the state herself found 
an University to be the top stone of a noble edifice to be 
known to posterity as the Virginia system of education? No 
sooner had this thought attained to fair proportions in 'his 
brain than the thing was done. To influence the other trus- 
tees was easy, and, with Cabell and his friends in the legis- 
lature, even that august body was brought to look upon the 
plan with favor, little foreseeing how soon the financial nerve 
was to be shocked. Accordingly on the sixth day of Janu- 
ary in the year 1818, it was proposed that the property of 
Central College should become a nucleus for^ funds to be 
applied to the establishment of a true state university upon 
a respectable scale. 

It would be useless to describe the wagging of conserva- 
tive beards, more than useless to describe the tortures gone 
through by timid legislators speculating how their constituents 
would construe their votes. There was then in existence a 
Literary Fund, how formed matters not, which Mr. Jeffer- 
son's eyes had fastened upon. The financial nerve must be 
shocked, but delicately, and here was a way to do it. Accord- 
ingly an act appropriating part of the revenue of the Literary 
Fund, &c, passed on the 21st of February, 1818. So far, 
so good — but an all important question arises. Where shall 
the new University be? Now the lobbying and wireworking 
begin. There are several parts of the state which would not 



20 English Culture in Virginia. [208 

object to becoming the seat of the Muses. Staunton, for 
instance, does not see at all why Charlottesville should carry- 
off the prize. Wherefore a Commission is appointed to sit at 
Rockfish Cap, in the Blue Ridge, to determine a site for Vir- 
ginia's University which all parties are now agreed must be 
something good of its kind. 

This Commission sat on the first day of August, 1818, and 
was largely attended ; the two ex-presidents heading the list 
of names. 1 Here Mr. Jefferson produced a map of the state 
and showed that Charlottesville was the centre of every- 
thing — certainly of his own desires. Who could refuse to 
gratify such a man as he stood there crowned with age and 
honors, and flushed with enthusiasm for an object both need- 
ful and glorious? Sectional jealousies were stifled, and Char- 
lottesville was chosen as the site of the future University. 2 
But the Commission did not dissolve before it had presented 
a report as to what ought to be taught in the new institu- 
tion — a report in which Mr. Jefferson's hand is, of course, to 
be seen. 3 They recommended that ten professorships should 
be established as follows : (1) Ancient Languages, (2) Modern 
Languages, (3) Mathematics, pure, (4) Physico-Mathematics, 
(5) Physics $>r Natural Philosophy, (6) Botany and Zoology, 
(7) Anatomy and Medicine, (8) Government, Political Econ- 
omy, &c, (9) Law Municipal, (10) Ideology, Ethics, &c. 
This was as comprehensive a scheme as even Mr. Jefferson 
could have wished, for did it not include his favorite Anglo- 
Saxon under the head of Modern Languages ? But further 
the Commission advised that buildings be furnished wherein 
gymnastics might be taught, but did not advance to the modern 



'It is generally stated that President Monroe attended this meeting. 
This I am inclined to doubt, if the list of the signers of the Report be 
correct, and I afterwards discovered that Mr. Randall had noted the same 
error (Life of Jefferson, III, 463), if error it be. 

8 Jefferson-Cabell Correspondence, page 432. 

3 Jefferson had consulted John Adams as to a scheme of professorships 
two years before. Adams' Works, X, 213. 



209] English Culture in Virginia. 21 

idea (or is it modern ?) of having a special professor to teach 
them. 1 Thus the Rockfish Gap Commission set in glory. 

The legislature receiving its report passed an act on the 
25th of January, 1819, establishing the University of Virginia 
upon pretty much the same plan as that recommended by the 
Commission, leaving the visitors of Central College to fulfil 
their functions until relieved by the first Board of Visitors 
for the University of Virginia. 

The first meeting of these latter took place on the 29th of 
March, 1819. There were present Thomas Jefferson, who was 
elected Rector, James Madison, Joseph C. Cabell, Chapman 
Johnson, James Breckinridge, Robert Taylor and John H. 
Cocke. After having elected a proctor and a bursar, and 
having chosen a common seal, they enacted sundry provisions 
as to the salaries of the professors which need not occupy 
us here ; but one entry on the minutes is important enough 
to quote : 

" That Dr. Thomas Cooper, of Philadelphia, heretofore 
appointed professor of chemistry and of law for the Central 
College, be confirmed and appointed for the University as 
professor of chemistry, mineralogy and natural philosophy, 
and as professor of law also until the advance of the insti- 
tution and the ' increase of the number of students shall 
render necessary a separate appointment to the professor- 
ship of law. . . ." 

Then follows a statement that it is both important and 
difficult to get American citizens as professors, and Thomas 
Jefferson and John H. Cocke are appointed a Committee 
of Superintendence to secure such provisionally — all actual 
engagements being deferred until the Board shall meet. 

The report of Cooper's election being now noised abroad 
through the state, the sectional feeling before alluded to not 



1 For a subsequent scheme of establishing a chair of agriculture, the 
duties of which were finally assigned to the professor of chemistry, see 
Madison's Writings, III, 284-7. 



22 English Culture in Virginia. [210 

having been allayed, and the politicians fearing that Jefferson 
had entrapped them into a new way to spend money for which 
they would be held responsible, a terrific outcry arose that 
Atheism was to be publicly taught, that the state would become 
bankrupt, that the good old times were gone forever, and that 
war was being waged against the manhood and virtue of Vir- 
ginia by the arch-scoffer of Monticello, seconded by his deisti- 
cal follower of Montpellicr. The hue and cry was as loud as 
it was silly. As is often the case, " base political tricksters " 
joined with really honest and well-minded clergymen in this 
war of words and pamphlets. The result will be seen in the 
record of the meeting of the Visitors on October 4, 1819, 
where the duties of Dr. Cooper's professorship are deferred and 
the Committee of Superintendence directed to arrange with 
him the terms on which such postponement may be made 
conformable to honor and without inconveniencing him. The 
non-completion of the buildings and Cooper's own offer to 
resign furnished a plausible plea for this treatment; and we 
see from the Rector's report for November 29th, 1821, that 
Cooper, who in the meantime had been made president of the 
Columbia, S. C, College, compromised for $1,500. So ended 
the Cooper episode, not very pleasantly for any of the parties 
concerned. 1 I have paid attention to it because it is of con- 
siderable importance to ray main theme, which might be called 
not inaptly " The evolution of the University of Virginia's 
professorships." 2 



1 But even as late as January, 1 82-1, Jefferson had not wholly given up 
the idea of getting Cooper, nor had that gentleman himself lost hope. See 
Madison's Writings, III, 360. 

s It may he remarked here once for all that no questions were asked as 
to the religious opinions of any of those who first filled chairs in the 
University. The agent who was sent to England did not mention the sub- 
ject until it was broached to him. All of the first faculty seem to have 
been Episcopalians except Dr. Blaetterman, who was a Lutheran. See 
Randall, III, 467-8. It is curious that John Adams opposed the selection 
of foreign professors because they would teach Christianity. See his works, 
X, 415. 



211] English Culture in Virginia. 23 

I have not the space, even if I had the inclination, to 
describe the woes and tribulations which the friends of the 
university underwent for the next four years. Every fresh 
demand for money was received with a groan by the legisla- 
ture. Men forgot that not one private house in a hundred is 
built for anything like the first estimate, and they accused Mr. 
Jefferson of everything a scurrilous politician knows himself 
to be guilty of. But the philosopher stood it all, though 
sorely tried at times. He was out of the thick of the fight, 
as a general should be, but his lieutenant, Cabell, was doing 
manful work in Richmond, a city opposed to Mr. Jefferson on 
principle, and hence inveterately hostile to the new university. 
Even those who were not hostile despaired of its success, and 
the majority Cabell could count on in the legislature showed 
signs of becoming a minority. Finally one great move was 
made by the foe — this was no less than to remove William 
and Mary to Richmond and give the old college another 
chance in connection with a medical school which would have 
clinical advantages Charlottesville could not give. This was 
a side blow to the University, and an almost deadly one. 
" What ! " its advocates would say, " Here you have had 
oceans of money given you by the state, and you begrudge 
setting this historic college on its feet again ! " And so the 
columns of the Enquirer for 1824 were filled with contribu- 
tions signed by "Friends of the State," "Friends of learning," 
" Constant Readers," and other representatives of a class 
that unfortunately still survives. But Cabell and his 
stout phalanx, among whom was Dr. Rice, reconciled now 
that Cooper was put out of the way, won the day in spite 
of the opposing odds. The president of William and Mary 
had to wend his sad way homeward, and the college which 
had partially revived under his management drooped finally 
forever. 1 



1 This was written before the scheme for the rehabilitation of the noble 
old college appeared to have any chance of success. Under its present 



24 English Culture in Virginia. [212 

But in the meantime something was doing which concerns 
us more nearly, something as important as anything which 
Jefferson had planned or Cabell executed. 

Reference has been made to the fact that the Board had 
seen the wisdom of conciliating public opinion by securing 
native professors. But they were determined to have none 
but good ones. All their outlay would have been to little 
purpose if the professors chosen were but ordinary men ; and 
so the selection of professors was by far the most difficult task 
that lay before them. They were prompt in their action. On 
the 3d of October, 1820, they resolved that negotiations should 
be entered into with "the following persons with the view 
of engaging them as professors of the University, viz., Mr. 
Bowditch, of Salem, 1 and Mr. Ticknor, of Boston." 2 The 
compensation to be given them was ample, considering the 
data of the offer ; it consisted of apartments, of a regular 
salary of $2,000 per annum, of a fee of $10 from each student 
in their classes, and an engagement on the part of the Uni- 
versity to see that the sum total of $2,500 should be secured 
to them for the first three years. 3 For reasons best known 
to themselves these gentlemen declined and, as Mr. Jefferson 



efficient management there seems to be no reason why William and Mary 
should not live forever to connect modern generations with those old times 
of which we are so proud. Certainly the friends of the University of Vir- 
ginia can afford not to be jealous and to lend all their help to the meri- 
torious enterprise, and certainly the thanks of all Virginians are due to the 
Bureau of Education for the monograph which turned the light of modern 
educational science upon the time-honored institution. 

1 Nathaniel Bowditch (1773-1838), the well-known mathematician and 
navigator, and translator of Laplace's "Mechanique Celeste," refused pro- 
fessorships in Harvard and West Point as well. 

* Ticknor's visit to Monticello in 1815 had made a deep impression on 
Mr. Jefferson, and is more than once mentioned in the Gilmer letters. See 
Ticknor's Life and Letters, I, 34, 300, 302. Both these nominations seem 
to have excited the displeasure of the religious opponents of Cooper. See 
Adams' Thomas Jefferson on p. 71. 

8 Jefferson-Cabell Correspondence, page 460. 



213] English Culture in Virginia. 25 

had probably foreseen from the start, the University was 
forced to look abroad for a majority of its first professors. 
This naturally brought up two questions, how many profes- 
sors were to be gotten, and who was to choose them. The 
Board some time before had determined that only eight pro- 
fessors could be employed at first, for the fund at their 
disposal had not proved too ample for the buildings, and 
economy was necessary on all sides. Mr. Jefferson and Mr. 
Madison, with him, thought that two of these professorships 
could not well be intrusted to foreign hands — those of ethics 
and law — but that the other six had better be filled from 
England. This was proposed to the members of the Board 
by letter and elicited the following response from Mr. Cabell. 

Bremo, 1 April 16, 1824. 

* % * 

I was very much pleased at the limitation of the foreign 
professors to a moiety of the whole number. I thought I 
could see advantages in this limitation, which I attempted to 
explain to the Board of Visitors. I need not repeat what I 
said upon this subject. The Professor of Anatomy is not 
like the Professor of Law and Politics, and the Professor of 
Ethics, connected with a science calculated to give tone and 
direction to the public mind, on the most important subjects 
that can occupy the human understanding. It is of the class 
of Professorships which may be prudently filled by foreigners. 
For this reason, and because the difference between five and 
six is but one ; and above all, because you are an infinitely 
better judge of the subject than I am, and it is my greatest 
happiness to give you pleasure upon any and upon all occa- 
sions, you may consider me as yielding my assent to your 



1 Bremo was Gen. CockeVcounty seat in Fluvanna. For this letter see 
the Jefl'erson-Cabell Correspondence, page 303. 

3 



26 English Culture in Virginia. [214 

proposition to instruct the agent to engage the Anatomical 
Professor in Europe. . . . Yours, 

Joseph C. Cabell. 

I concur with Mr. Cabell in the above. 

John H. Cocke. 

The first question having been satisfactorily answered, the 
second pressed for solution. Mr. Jefferson's first choice of a 
commissioner who should proceed to England to procure the 
necessary professors, naturally fell upon the man who had 
stood by him so nobly and so faithfully — Joseph C. Cabell. 
But Mr. Cabell's affairs were embarrassed, for he had pur- 
chased a large portion of his brother's property which would 
be a dead loss unless it received his immediate personal atten- 
tion ; besides he needed rest, and moreover had another 
scheme on his hands — a canal to connect the eastern and 
western waters. So he was forced to decline this commission, 
honorable and confidential as it was. Then Mr. Jefferson 
rode over to Mr. Madison's and they consulted long and 
earnestly about the matter. This was in November, 1823. 
Finally Mr. Cabell was consulted and doubtless others of the 
Board, and then Mr. Jefferson wrote to a young lawyer in 
Richmond requesting his presence at Monticello on urgent 
business. The antecedents of that young lawyer must now 
engage our attention. ' 



1 Much of the preceding chapter is necessarily a recapitulation of what 
Dr. Adams has so well and so fully presented in his recent monograph. I 
must add, however, in justice to myself, that the chapter was written sev- 
eral months before I was enabled to consult Dr. Adams' work. I have, 
therefore, travelled over the same ground independently, and can testify, 
were testimony needed, to the thoroughness and accuracy of his researches 
and conclusions. 



CHAPTER II. 

FRANCIS WALKER GILMER. 

Francis Walker Gilmer was the youngest child of Dr. 
George Gilmer, of Pen Park, Albemarle County, Virginia. 
He was bom on the ninth day of October in the year seven- 
teen hundred and ninety, or rather Francis Thornton Gilmer 
was born on that day, for so the young child was christened. 
He did not assume the name Francis Walker until after the 
death of an uncle of that name — an event which happened 
somewhere about the year 1808. 1 The Gilmers are of Scotch 
extraction, and settled in this country in 1731. 2 They have 
always held a high and honorable position, and many mem- 
bers of the family have been distinguished for more than 
usual intellect. They have given Virginia a Governor and 
the United States a Cabinet Minister in the person of Thomas 
Walker Gilmer, Governor of Virginia (1840-41) aud member 
of Congress, who was killed just after his appointment- as 
Secretary of the Navy, by the bursting of a gun on board the 
" Princeton " in February, 1844. The victim of this tragedy, 
which deprived Virginia of two of her most eminent men, 
was the nephew of the subject of rny sketch. 

1 This may have been the Francis Walker who was a representative in 
Congress 1793-1795; but the point is uncertain. 

a For a good account of the Gilmers see " Sketches of some of the First 
Settlers of Upper Georgia," by Gov. George R. Gilmer (New York, Apple- 
ton, 1855). The Gilmers settled in Georgia after the Revolution, and the 
author of the above-mentioned book was one of the most noted members 
of the family. 

27 



28 English Culture in Virginia. [216 

I do not think that the genealogy of the family with a 
long string of names and dates is essential to my purpose, but 
a few words descriptive of Mr. Gilmer's father will not be 
out of place — for the son was said to have inherited, in no 
small degree, his father's temperament and talents. Now, for 
such a description, I can go to no better person than William 
Wirt, Dr. Gilmer's son-in-law. In a letter to Francis, written 
from Richmond on the 9th of October, 1806, Mr. Wirt speaks 
as follows : — " You, I understand, propose to follow your 
father's profession. The science of medicine is, I believe, 
said to be progressive and to be daily receiving new improve- 
ments — you will, therefore, have a wider field to cultivate, 
and will take the profession on a grander scale — it will be 
your own fault, therefore, if you do not, as a physician, 'fill a 
larger space in the public eye.' But the space which your 
father occupied was not filled merely by his eminence as a 
physician (although he was certainly among the most emi- 
nent), he was moreover a very good linguist — a master of 
botany and the chemistry of his day — had a store of very 
correct general science — was a man of superior taste in the 
fine arts — and to crown the whole, had an elevated and a 
noble spirit, and was in his manners and conversation a most 
accomplished gentleman — easy and graceful in his movements, 
eloquent in speech, a temper gay and animated, and inspiring 
every company with its own tone — wit pure, sparkling and 
perennial — and when the occasion called for it, sentiments of 
the highest dignity and utmost force. Such was your father 
before disease had sapped his mind and constitution — and such 
the model which, as your brother, I would wish you to adopt. 
It will be a model much more easy for you to form yourself 
on than any other, because it will be natural to you — for I 
well remember to have remarked, when you were scarcely four 
years old, how strongly nature had given you the cast of your 
father's character." ' 



1 This letter is one of the many from Wirt to Gilmer, given in Kennedy's 
Life of Wirt. I had intended to append a special dissertation, showing 



217] English Culture in Virginia. 29 

Mr. Wirt spoke warmly, and he had reason so to do. He 
had come poor and friendless into a strange state, and the 
Gilmers had taken him by the hand. His humble birth was 
forgotten and, in 1795, he married Mildred, the eldest daugh- 
ter of the house. Pen Park, the Doctor's country seat, was 
near Monticello, and the master of the house, having himself 
served the Revolution well, was the intimate friend of Thomas 
Jefferson. 1 Living at this hospitable home with his young 
bride, Wirt was thrown with Jefferson and Madison and 
Monroe, with the Barbours and the Carrs. The youngest 
Carr, Dabney, son of Dabney, was ever after his dearest friend. 
Of him we shall have to speak many times. 

But troubles came upon the house. Dr. Gilmer died shortly 
after the marriage of his daughter, and the latter did not long 
survive him. Wirt, cast adrift upon the world aftennany 
wanderings, settled down in Richmond to achieve a well- 
earned fame. Pen Park passed out of the family, and the 
brothers were scattered. Peachy, the eldest of the surviving 



how Kennedy wilfully altered these letters; but I find that I can only 
allude to the fact briefly. Allowing for mistakes that might have been 
made in copying, I find abundant proof that Kennedy took it upon himself 
to improve the style of Wirt's letters, although he did not tamper much with 
the matter. He did not succeed in this gratuitous task. The original letters 
are far less tame than the epistles which have been substituted for them. 
Frequently whole sentences are omitted, with no asterisks to mark that the 
text is not continuous. Two of the letters are misdated, phrases are often 
transposed or dropped, and in one letter, of which only half the original is 
given, I count upwards of twenty-three variations. It is needless to say 
that Wirt was not the man to use strong terms unless he meant them. Mr. 
Kennedy has not thought fit to leave any of the few expressions which show 
that Wirt was after all a man like ourselves. He does, however, leave the 
letter in which Wirt made the curious mistake of attributing to Beattie or 
Dryden the majestic passage from Gray's "Progress of Poesy," beginning 
" Now the rich stream of music winds along." This mistake is rendered 
all the more curious by the fact that Wirt was fond of repeating " The 
Bard." 

1 Dr. Gilmer left certain manuscripts relating to the Revolution. These 
have been edited by R. A. Brock, and published in one of the late volumes 
of the Virginia Historical Society Papers. 



30 English Culture in Virginia. [218 

children, settled far away in Henry County to the great dis- 
gust of his friends who thought that his many talents deserved 
a wider field. James, another promising son, died just as 
he was about to build up a law practice at Charlottesville. 
Harmer and Francis, the two younger, were left to get what 
education they could in a county where good schools flourished 
not. The guardian of Francis (and I presume Harmer's also) 
acted an ignoble part by them and, if I chose to present the 
pitiful letters of the former, written in his sixteenth year, I 
could give this chapter a very mournful cast. The boy's 
training was almost entirely neglected, and though he had 
property of his own, he got little good from it during his 
minority. But he had a few warm friends. The family at 
Monticello offered all the help a proud nature was willing to 
accept. Mrs. Randolph taught him French and he grew up 
and played with her children, and even then Mr. Jefferson 
noted the brilliancy of his mind and prophesied great things 
of him. 

His letters of this period (1806) are interesting, for they 
give us glimpses of a fine character gradually moulding itself 
under circumstances as adverse as possible. Now he describes 
his forlorn position ; now he gives us his opinion of the books 
he has been reading ; now he tells how kind the Monticello 
people are. He does not like Pope's Homer for the time- 
honored reason that Pope is not Homer ; but he nearly cried 
over the episode of Nisus and Euryalus. Anacreon is not 
much to his fancy, but he delights in Caesar's Commentaries 
and thinks they are "very easy." 

But in 1807 a brighter tone appears. A Mr. Ogilvie is 
going to have a fine classical school at Milton (a small hamlet 
near Charlottesville), and he will at last have a chance to 
make a man of himself. Alas ! this hope fails him, for the 
aspiring Ogilvie cannot content himself with two scholars. 

I fear my readers will accuse me of being a man of many 
digressions, but I cannot refrain from a passing notice of 
this eccentric character who became a correspondent of Gil- 



219] English Culture in Virginia. 31 

mer's. He was a Scotchman of good family and was born 
about 1775. 1 Emigrating to this country he taught a school 
in Richmond where he was very successful in stimulating his 
pupils with a love for study, although his own mind was too 
unbalanced to have imparted much solid information. Some 
of his pupils were afterwards distinguished — a writer in the 
Southern Literary Messenger (Vol. XIV, p. 534), enumerat- 
ing Gen. Winfield Scott, Hon. W. S. Archer, Gov. Duvall, 
of Florida Territory, and possibly Thomas Ritchie, the editor 
of the Richmond Enquirer. Whether this Richmond success 
came before or after the Milton failure, I am unable to say, 
as the dates are rather mixed. But Ogilvie was not destined 
to be a "drudge of a schoolmaster;" he conceived the laud- 
able and lofty design of enlightening the American people 
upon the principles of " true oratory " and of " philosophical 
criticism." But such a task required arduous preparation, 
and he accordingly retired from South Carolina where he had 
been on some wild goose chase, to the backwoods of Kentucky, 
there to meditate and woo the Muse of Eloquence. Whether 
it was for this latter end that he joined a volunteer expedition 
against the Indians, I know not ; but the account he gives of 
that expedition, in a letter to Gilmer, is worthy of preserva- 
tion. It must,- however, be condemned to lie among its com- 
panion MSS. until I can find a fitter opportunity to give it to 
the world. Having encountered no Indians, the philan- 
thropist retired to a lonely log house, stipulating with his 
landlady that he was to see no company — a rather unneces- 
sary precaution it would seem. Here in the winter of 1812-13 
was composed a series of orations which were shortly after- 
wards delivered in Philadelphia, New York and Boston. In 
spite of his erratic religious opinions his success was remark- 
able. The American people were evidently willing to be 



1 The biographical dictionaries give the date of his birth variously. I 
ascertained from one of his letters that the date I have given is the 
right one. 



32 English Culture in Virginia. [220 

instructed in the principles of oratory and of philosophical 
criticism, whether the instruction profited much or little. 
The letter in which he describes his success is worthy of this 
peripatetic from the Athens of Scotland to the Athens of 
America. Among his auditors in New York was Francis 
Jeffrey. In Boston young George Ticknor thought him a 
wonderful elocutionist. 1 But the use of narcotics was gradu- 
ally destroying his mind. A volume of his essays was received 
with derision ; and having heard of the death of his relative, 
the Earl of Finlater and Airy, without near heirs, he deter- 
mined to go to Scotland and put in his own claim for the title. 
He failed and died at Aberdeen in 1820, presumably by his 
own hand. He is said to have done much harm to the cause 
of religion and morality in Virginia ; of this I have no evi- 
dence. His pupils spoke of him with affection, and his influ- 
ence on young Gilmer was probably confined to stimulating 
him in the study of the classics and to giving him a bent 
toward public life; for, as we have seen above, the latter had 
at one time proposed to become a physician. 

But although Francis was thus disappointed in his expecta- 
tion of becoming a pupil of this curious man, something bet- 
ter was in store for him. Through the efforts and advice of 
Mr. William A. Burwell, long a member of Congress from 
tin' Bedford district, and a firm friend of the Gilmers, the boy, 
now in his eighteenth year and the possessor of a vast amount 
of ill-sorted information, was placed at a school in Georgetown 
where he would be under Mr. Burwell's eye. This was in the 
winter of 1808-9. In the fall of 1809 he entered William 
and Mary College and remained there for a session. Mr. Wirt 
says that he met him there for the first time since his child- 
hood, and that " in point of learning he was already a prodigy." 
He adds : 2 " His learning, indeed, was of a curious cast : for 



1 Ticknor's Life, &c., I, 8. 

8 This is taken from Wirt's preface to the Baltimore edition of Gilmer's 
Sketches, to be mentioned hereafter. 



221] English Culture in Virginia. 33 

having had no one to direct his studies, he seems to have 
devoured indiscriminately everything that came in his way. 
He had been removed from school to school, in different parts 
of the country — had met at all these places with different col- 
lections of old books, of which he was always fond, and seemed 
also to have had command of his father's medical library, 
which he had read in the original Latin. It was curious to 
hear a boy of seventeen years of age [he was over nineteen] 
speaking with fluency and even with manly eloquence, and 
quoting such names as Boerhaave, Van Helmont, Van Swei- 
ten, together with Descartes, Gassendi, Newton, Locke, and 
descanting on the system of Linnaeus with the familiarity of 
a veteraii professor. He lived, however, to reduce this chaos 
to order, and was, before he died, as remarkable for the digested 
method as the extent and accuracy of his attainments." 

Such was the impression made by this remarkable youth 
that Bishop Madison, then president of the college, offered him 
the ushership of the grammar school connected with the insti- 
tution, but the offer was declined ; for the young man was 
bent upon public life. Among Gilmer's classmates was George 
Croghan, of Kentucky (1791-1849), destined to become a hero 
in the war of 1812 ; they seem to have had some correspond- 
ence after the termination of hostilities, but only one letter of 
Croghan's has been preserved. 

Iu 1811 we find that Mr. Wirt had invited Gilmer to read 
law with him in Richmond ; and now follow some of the 
pleasantest years of his life. Wirt was at that time at the 
head of the Richmond bar, and his " Letters of a British Spy " 
had given him a national renown. He had married into a 
distinguished family (the Gambles), and was able to introduce 
his protege 1 to a large and cultivated circle of friends — to 
Wickham and Hay and Call ' and Dr. McClurg, 2 to Tazewell 



1 All leading lawyers, the latter was reporter for the Court of Appeals. 
1 A finely educated physician, and a raemher of the Philadelphia Conven- 
tion of 1787. 



34 English Culture in Virginia. [222 

whenever he came to practice in the Court of Appeals, to 
ex-Gov. now Judge Wm. H. Cabell, who entertained most of 
the strangers of distinction that visited Richmond, to Dr. Rice, 
of whom we have heard before ; to Dr. Brokenborough, the 
life-long friend of John Randolph, and last but not least, to 
William Pope, the prince of good fellows, who lived about 
twenty miles from Richmond, but whose jokes were known 
from one end of the state to the other. Pope was the man 
who, whenever he came to Richmond, went to Wirt's office to 
hear select passages read from the " Life of Patrick Henry," 
and did nothing but weep during the performance. 

Here, then, was some compensation for the dreariness of his 
early life. We catch glimpses of his progress through Black- 
stone, on to Mansfield and Erskine, and finally, O dreary task ! 
to the Virginia Reporters. We hear his opinions of different 
reigning belles and of the last doings of Napoleon; we find 
him rejoicing at his providential escape from the burning of 
the Richmond Theatre ; and finally we come full upon vivid 
descriptions of the horror felt in Richmond at the reports of 
Cockburn's raid. 

In the militia movements of the state during this trouble- 
some time Gilmer took his share. In the camp below Rich- 
mond, near Warrenigh Church, he drilled daily with his 
friends the Carrs and young Jefferson Randolph. His fellow 
Student in the law, Abel P. Upshur, was also there, not des- 
tined to be shot by the British, but to rise to be Secretary of 
the Navy and of State, and to perish in the accident on board 
the Princeton. But the British would not come in spite of 
the fact that brave and irascible Colonel Thomas Mann Ran- 
dolph (Jefferson's son-in-law) was waiting for them ; and the 
passage from Tyrtaeus, which he had copied out in the Greek 
and given to Gilmer, did no good at all. What wonder then 
that the warlike Colonel, afterwards Governor, knocked a 
gentleman dosvn for alluding to this abortive campaign ! 

Flesh and blood could not stand a camp before which no 
enemy was to be seen, and so we find Gilmer and Upshur 



223] English Culture in Virginia. 35 

tossing away their guns and sallying homeward, leaving Cap- 
tain AVirt, with his flying company of artillery, to write 
soothing letters to Mrs. W. and to curse his own position. 

In the meantime young Harmer Gilmer, who had taken 
his medical degree at Philadelphia, and was looking forward 
to following in his father's footsteps, was taken ill at Char- 
lottesville and died. Francis was with him and nursed him 
faithfully, although his own health was far from good. He 
had always been slight and frail, and the air of Richmond did 
not agree with him. And now that his companion brother 
had been taken away from him, the clouds that lowered over 
the whole country seemed to be blackest over his own devoted 
head. 

But with him, as with all of us, time and change of scene 
wrought a cure. We pass over his snubbing Wirt's attempts 
at Comedy (Kennedy, I, 351), and the gay days spent at 
Montevideo, Judge Cabell's residence in Buckingham, and 
find him at last fully determined to begin the practice of the 
law in Winchester. He had previously thought of settling 
in Lexington, Kentucky ; but, as with subsequent schemes, 
the thought of leaving his mother state, now that she seemed 
in a precarious condition, unnerved him and he resolved to 
stay. Not the least interesting part of these letters is the 
constant reference to the financial affairs of Virginia from 
1815 to 1830. They show an utter despair of improvement, 
from the complete relapse, suffered after the war of 1812, and 
from the load of debt then sorely pressing upon the older 
families. The troubles that came upon Mr. Jefferson have 
become historic, but I could mention other cases to show that 
the current opinion that Virginia was ruined by the late war 
is utterly erroneous. Virginia was ruined long before, ruined 
by an extravagant system of labor, by a lavish hospitality, by 
inattention to ordinary business principles. The war only has- 
tened the crisis a few years. 

Gilmer's plan of settlement was made in April, 1814 ; but 
in September of that year his schemes had not been matured, 



36 English Culture in Virginia. [224 

owing to the unsettled state of the country. In the meantime 
he had been exercising his pen in the production of certain 
essays — having now locked up among his treasures a manu- 
script volume of " Physical and Moral Essays," some of 
which afterwards saw the light. As a few of his literary 
productions are of consequence in themselves, and as all are 
of consequence in enabling us to inform ourselves of his 
character, I shall in this chapter simply note the date and 
title of such as were published, and shall defer all discussion 
of their merits until a subsequent chapter in which I hope to 
examine the character of the man and his work in some detail. 
It was during this summer that he became acquainted, 
or at least developed an intimacy with that wonderful old 
philosopher, the Abbe Correa. With the exception of Mr. 
Jefferson this man did more to form Gilmer's character than 
did any other of his distinguished friends. Joseph Francisco 
Correa de Serra was born in Portugal in 1750. He studied 
at Rome and Naples, was admitted to holy orders, and returned 
to Portugal in 1777. Here he took great interest in the foun- 
dation of the Lisbon Academy, and in 1779 was made its 
perpetual secretary. He did an excellent work while con- 
nected with this institution in collecting cabinets of speci- 
mens — chiefly botanical, and in editing numerous unpub- 
lished documents relative to early Portuguese history. But 
he did not escape the suspicions of the Inquisition, and in 
1786 it became necessary for him to seek refuge in Paris. 
There he continued his studies and contracted an intimacy 
with the naturalist Broussonnet. After the death of Pedro 
III, Correa returned to his native country, and to him Brous- 
sonnet fled on the outbreak of the Reign of Terror. Rendered 
an object of suspicion by his hospitality to the exile, Correa 
found it necessary to go into hiding himself; for the authori- 
ties, under the direction of a tyrannical intendant-general of 
police, were busily engaged in crushing out all democratic 
tendencies. After a retreat to London, about 1796, Correa 
was employed in a diplomatic relation at Paris, where he 



225] English Culture in Virginia. 37 

remained from 1802 to 1813. In the latter year he embarked 
for the United States and, coming to Philadelphia, Teas engaged 
to deliver lectures on botany in the University of that city. 
He was subsequently appointed Portuguese minister to this 
country. Like all foreigners he was attracted to Mr. Jefferson 
and became a frequent inmate at Monticello where, in all prob- 
ability, Francis Gilmer first met him. The Abbe was drawn 
toward the young Virginian by the latter's enthusiasm for 
all science — especially for botany. We have heard how Mr. 
Wirt found him discoursing on Linnaeus at Williamsburg, 
and it appears from his letters that he had since gone deeper 
into the subject. He was familiar with the flora of most of 
the sections of his native state, and he was now destined under 
the guidance of Mr. Correa to make vast acquisitions to his 
knowledge. But I shall let him describe his new friend in 
his own words, which are taken from a letter written by him 
to his brother Peachy Gilmer on the 3d of November, 1814 : 
"I am so far [Richmond] on my way to Philadelphia with 
Mr. Correa, of whom, I dare say, you heard me speak of last 
summer. He is the most extraordinary man now living, or 
who, perhaps, ever lived. None of the ancient or modern 
languages ; none of the sciences, physical or' moral ; none of 
the appearances of earth, air, or ocean, stand him any more 
chance than the Pope of Rome, as old Jonett 1 used to say. I 
have never heard him asked a question which he could not 
answer ; never seen him in company with a man who did not 
appear to be a fool to him ; never heard him make a remark 
which ought not to be remembered. He has read, seen, under- 
stands and remembers everything contained in books, or to be 
learned by travel, observation, and the conversation of learned 
men. He is a member of every philosophical society in the 
world, and knows every distinguished man living, &c." Mak- 
ing all due allowances, we must, nevertheless, admit that the 



1 1 do not know who is referred to. 



38 English Culture in Virginia. [226 

man who could so impress a young man rather given to cyni- 
cism than otherwise, was no ordinary personage. 

The journey to Philadelphia was taken, and Gilmer pro- 
nounced the months spent there the happiest of his life. 
He contracted intimacies with John Vaughan, Secretary of 
the Philosophical Society, with Dr. Caspar Wistar, afterwards 
president of that society, and connected with the abolition 
movement, with Robert Walsh, the litterateur, and with young 
George Ticknor, then opening his eyes at the magnificence of 
Philadelphia dinner parties. He was probably present at the 
very dinner where John Randolph, in defending the gentle- 
men of Virginia from an imaginary insult from Mr. Correa, 
forgot, as he so often did, to be a gentleman himself. 1 But he 
had to tear himself away at last, even from the fascinations of 
a certain belle who is not infrequently mentioned in the letters 
written about this time. The visit not only left pleasant 
memories but led to various correspondences which will be 
mentioned in due course, but which cannot be enlarged upon. 
It also led to a great scheme, mysterious and all engrossing, 
the particulars of which I have not been able to make out, 
but which shows that the young man of twenty-four was still 
enthusiastic. It is a scheme of travel in Europe with Mr. 
Correa, from which large revenues are in some way to flow — 
but the aforesaid revenues would not begin flowing out until 
a thousand dollars were poured in, which thousand dollars 
Peachy Gilmer was conjured to bring with him to Albemarle. 
But luckily or unluckily for our schemers, Napoleon came 
back from Elba and set Europe in a blaze, which the philo- 
sophic Correa, now aged 65, did not care to pass through, and 
so this mysterious quest of El Dorado in the old world was 
abandoned, and Mr. Gilmer settled down in Winchester about 
the first of August, 1815. But he had not begun to practice 
before the old Abbe was on him again, this time come to per- 



' Ticknor's Life and Letters, I, 16. 



227] English Culture in Virginia. 39 

suade him to take an expedition through the Carolinas for 
botanizing purposes. The temptation was too strong ; the 
young lawyer was so highly flattered by the evident fondness 
of the great man for him, and his scientific ardor was so 
kindled, that the shingle freshly hung out was taken down 
and the two enthusiasts started off. I leave the reader to 
imagine the pleasure Gilmer found in seeing new places and 
new faces, and in learning a favorite science under such a 
teacher ; I must myself hurry on in my narrative. 

Winchester now became Gilmer's abode for the next two 
years. There he found a respectable bar, and what was better, 
three staunch friends — Dabney Carr, Henry St. George Tucker, 
and Judge Holmes. Dabney Carr was, as we have already 
seen, the great friend of "William Wirt, and the favorite 
nephew of Thomas Jefferson. He was now in his forty-fourth 
year, and was Chancellor for the Winchester district. He 
was an amiable and intelligent man, and did much to direct 
the young practitioner in his studies. Tucker was then mem- 
ber of Congress for his district, and his letters written to 
Gilmer from Washington are not the least interesting in this 
correspondence. These two, together with Judge Holmes and 
Mr. Wirt, helped to make Gilmer the most learned lawyer 
for his age in Virginia. 

It is interesting to read of his, successful defence of a horse- 
thief who was notoriously guilty ; of the six cases which this 
one success brought him ; of his schemes for future glory, and 
of his endeavors to overcome certain natural impediments to 
fluent speaking ; but I am reminded of the more important 
work to be done, and regretfully pass over much of more than 
usual interest. It must, however, be mentioned that just 
about this time (1816) a Baltimore printer gave to the world 
a pamphlet containing sketches of certain American orators, 
which was much talked about in Washington, and was attrib- 
uted to Mr. Wirt. But a few weeks later the rumor spread 
abroad, greatly to Gilmer's disgust, that Mr. Wirt's favorite 
pupil, aud not Mr. Wirt himself, was the author. The guilty 



40 English Culture in Virginia. [228 

young critic could not deny the charge, and gained an enviable 
reputation in Virginia as a coming man of letters. 

In the meantime Gilmer was corresponding with Ticknor, 
who was now in Gottingen writing warm letters about the 
progress of German science, and sage letters as to his friend's 
keeping up his health ; with Hugh S. Legare, whom he had 
met on his southern trip, and who gives us glimpses of the 
methods of study which were to lead to his future distinction — 
with Correa, the omniscient, whose careful handwriting it is a 
pleasure to read ; with Mr. Wirt, in answer to that gentle- 
man's elegant epistles of advice ; with Tucker in Congress; 
and with Mr. Jefferson, on subjects of political economy, also 
on the subject of the boundaries of Lousiana, on which he was 
writing an article. Jefferson replied that although soon after 
the acquisition of that country, he had minutely investigated 
its history and "formed a memoir establishing its boundaries 
from Perdido to the Rio Bravo" (which papers were sent to 
the American Commissioner at Madrid, copies remaining, 
however, in the Secretary of State's office), he had now no 
documents by him that could help Gilmer. He, however, 
referred him to an article in the "Virginia Argus," of some 
time in January, 1816, which was so free from errors that he 
suspected that some one in the Secretary of State's office must 
have written it. Gilmer corresponded also with the celebrated 
J hi Pont de Nemours (1739-1817), who, after a varied and 
brilliant life at the French court, had come to New Jersey in 
1802 and, disdaining all Napoleon's offers, had resolved to 
turn his talents to account among a fresh young people — 
neglecting, however, to learn their language, though he lived 
among them for fifteen years. Respecting this last corres- 
pondence, we will quote a few words from a letter to Mr. Wirt : 

" Mr. Correa has put me to corresponding with the celebrated 
Du Pont (de Nemours), who writes the longest letters in 
French and in the worst hand I ever saw ; he writes often, and 
the correspondence occupies a good deal of my leisure. I shall 
transcribe his letters in a book, and when we live to quit the 



229] English Culture in Virginia. 41 

bars and courts and study the history of the strange things 
which have passed before us, we will read them together." 

It will always be one of the regrets of my life that Gilmer 
did not transcribe the aforesaid letters, for many a weary hour 
did I spend deciphering them — to find nothing after all very 
worthy of my pains. They are filled with reflections upon 
our government not particularly profound — unless the fact 
that my eyes were nearly blinded by the strain to which they 
were subjected, blinded my critical powers — with panegyrics 
on Quesnay and Turgot, whom by the way he induced Gilmer 
to read, and thus deserves our thanks, 1 with compliments to 
Gilmer and invitations to him to undertake a translation of a 
certain treatise on Education, which he had written for the 
benefit of this uneducated country ; with lamentations over the 
state of France, where the clerical party were beginning that 
reaction which cost the Bourbons their throne; and with enco- 
miums upon Mr. Jefferson in spite of the fact that that philos- 
opher had allowed the distinguished Frenchman to visit him 
for a week without once seeing him ; B from all of which I 
excerpt one passage and hasten on : 



1 In this connection I must quote the following from a letter to Wirt : 
" In economy the French have opened one window and the English another 
on the opposite side (as the Chevalier Correa says), but nobody has seen 
more than an apartment of the great edifice." 

2 Extract from a letter written by Gilmer to Wirt dated Winchester, 
January, 1816. 

"By the way, this puts me in mind to ask you if the worthy St. Thomas 
of Canterbury has ever written to you concerning the dari oratores. I have 
always forgotten to mention to you in my letters that I made the applica- 
tion to him, and he treated it as Pope [William Pope, before mentioned] 
says, in a ' particular manner.' That I might leave a kind of lasting me- 
mento to jog his memory, I wrote him a very polite note, mentioning the 
subject in the best way I could, to which he did me the honor to return no 
answer, and the matter ended, as I did not think it proper considering the 
anti-duelling laws to challenge him, as J. Randolph would probably have 
done. If he has not written to you on the subject, you need take it as no 
particular negligence towards yourself, as he lately suffered the celebrated 
4 



42 English Culture in Virginia. [230 

" Such is the system of your elections, imitated from those 
of England, whose central point is the tavern where Madame 
Intrigue solicits, pays for and obtains the protection of My 
Lord Whiskey. You haven't yet got to giving one another 
blows over the head with great sticks, or to detaching the 

shoulders from the body with (?) as is done at London and 

Westminster; but already blows of the fist are not spared, 
and the chiefs of opinion have themselves accompanied by 
two body-guards — vigorous Boxers. This evil may be less 
great in your Virginia, and it is less great because you have 
there another evil graver still — all manual labor is done by 
slaves who have not and who ought not to have a voice in 
elections. It is to this same evil that you owe, with some 
justice, what is called ' the Virginian Dynasty.'" 

These letters from Du Pont occasioned considerable cor- 
respondence between Gilmer and Mr. Jefferson, for the old 
courtier's French was beyond the dictionaries at Winchester. 
The treatise on Education was translated, but, for various 
reasons, was not given' to the world. 1 

But the young lawyer was longing for a wider field. He 
was doing well at Winchester, had in fact made his expenses 
the first year; but this by no means satisfied him. So Attor- 
ney-General Wirt and Chancellor Carr were consulted as to 



Du Pont de Nemours, a grave senator of France, near 80 years of age to 
visit liim at Monticello, stay a week and not see him." 

Gilmer refers above to the fact that Wirt found some difficulty in getting 
Jefferson's opinion as to his life of Patrick Henry. There is another char- 
acteristic sentence of Gilmer's on this subject which I take from a letter to 
Wirt, written on the 16th of December, 1816: "The old citizen of Monti- 
cello is such a diplomatist that he has quite baffled our schemes to obtain 
his opinion ; and when we ask him one thing he tells us he ' has reason to 
believe' something about another. A plague upon all diplomacy, I say." 

1 The French version was published in Paris and had gone through a 
second edition by 1812. It is to be hoped that Gilmer had the printed 
book to translate from. For a synopsis of this treatise which is said to 
have influenced Jefferson's ideas on higher education, see Adams' Thomas 
Jefferson, &c, pp. 49, 50, 51. 



231] English Oulture in Virginia. 43 

his future location. Wirt decidedly favored Baltimore, but it 
was found that a rule of court required a three years residence 
in Maryland, and this unfair protection of native intellect 
forced the aspirant for legal fame to make a Napoleonic dash, 
as Wirt called it, to Richmond. This was in the winter of 
1817-18. 

His first impressions of Richmond were not favorable, and 
he, therefore, made a flying trip to Baltimore to see whether 
the rule could not be broken down. Some of his friends there 
were convinced that an exception would be made in his case ; 
and as Pinckney was likely to be out of the way, either in 
Russia or in Washington, under the government, there seemed 
to be a fine opening. But these things were uncertain, and 
Gilmer returned to Richmond, where, after an abortive attempt 
to induce some of his friends to go with him to Florida, he 
finally settled with something like content. It may be noted 
that he made some endeavors, through Mr. Wirt, to obtain the 
secretaryship of state for the new territory of Florida; but 
Mr. Monroe decidedly discouraged the application on the 
ground that Gilmer ought not to think of thus burying him- 
self — a fact which served to increase the young man's dislike 
to the " most popular president." 

Not long after his return to Richmond, he was appointed 
by the court to defend one Gibson, who had committed a most 
atrocious and open murder. The man was convicted, but 
Gilmer got him a new trial on two nice legal points, and so, 
in the opinion of his friends, obtained a great victory. We 
also hear incidentally of a thousand dollar fee for recovering 
some land in Orange County, of a trip to Georgia for a similar 
purpose, and of sundry claims given him by Robert Walsh — 
all of which tends to show that he was by no means idle. Nor 
was there any lack of appreciation of his work on the part of 
his friends and acquaintances. There were rumors that Presi- 
dent Smith of William and Mary was to be called to Phila- 
delphia in Dr. Wistar's place, and a letter to Jefferson, of 
March 18th, 1818, hints that Gilmer might be asked to 



44 English Culture in Virginia. [232 

become the head of his alma mater, Jefferson replied on 
April 10th : " I trust you did not for a moment seriously 
think of shutting yourself behind the door of William and 
Mary College. A more complete eul de sac could not be pro- 
posed to you." 1 We also see from a letter to his brother 
Peachy, written about a year later, that he stood some chance 
of being made Attorney General of Virginia. 

During this time also (1819-20) he had a correspondence 
with Benjamin Vaughan (brother to John, of Philadelphia), 
the antiquarian of Hallowell, Maine, who after many years of 
good works in England, continued the same in this country 
until his death in 1835. Vaughan lent him a copy of Smith's 
General History of Virginia (London Edition, 1629), and the 
result was that Gilmer induced Dr. Rice to publish the first 
American edition of this valuable work in 1819. Nor was 
lie idle in the law. He was appointed by the Court of Appeals 
to report their decisions, and published a thin volume of 
reports in 1821 ; but the legislature did not make the office 
of Reporter profitable enough, and he only served one year. 

In the meantime George Hay, a distinguished Richmond 
lawyer, Monroe's son-in-law, and the prosecutor of Aaron 
Burr, had published a work against usury laws. Gilmer had 
read Bentham and the Edinburgh Reviewers on the subject, 
and disagreeing, published a reply to them, disdaining to notice 
Mr. Hay's performance. This production of his thirtieth year 
gained many high commendations from such men as Mr. Jeffer- 
son, John Randolph of Roanoke. Mr. Wirt, and Rufus King. 

From a letter of June 26th, 1820, we find that he was not 
unknown abroad. A young friend, Dabney Carr Terrell, who 
had been studying in Geneva, brought him a letter from De 
Caudolle, the celebrated professor of botany at that Univer- 
sity, in which the savan solicited specimens from America, and 
promised that any observations Gilmer might make should be 

1 This letter is given entire in Dr. Adams' Monograph on Thomas 
Jefferson, page 110. 



233] English Culture in Virginia. 45 

inserted and acknowledged in the great work to which he was 
devoting his life. The postscript to this letter is as follows : 

" It is worth while to mention, too, as an honor done me 
abroad for what was hardly understood at home — that Pictet, 
the head of the University at Geneva, translated my theory 
of the Natural Bridge into French, maintaining it to be the 
only scientific solution. Terrell said all the learned there 
spoke in recommendation of it. . . ." 

From the above we see that the man was being recognized 
as successful. His library on general jurisprudence was the 
best in the state, if not in the whole country, for Ticknor 
and Terrell had purchased many rare books for him abroad. 
Strangers as they passed through Baltimore and Washington 
saw Mr. Wirt and brought letters of introduction from him 
to Gilmer. Even in Winchester we catch sight of distin- 
guished visitors, such as General Bernard, 1 Napoleon's aide, 
who gave them vivid descriptions of Waterloo, Dr. Wistar 
of Philadelphia, and the Abbe. From this last companion 
Gilmer had now to part, and from the letter I am about to 
give we see how dear his Virginia friends had been to the rare 
old man. 

Frank W. Gilmer, Esq. 
New York, 9th November, 1820. 
Dear Sir and Friend, 

Tomorrow in the Albion packet i sail for England, and 
from thence in January i will sail for Brazil, where i will be 
in the beginning of March. It is impossible to me to leave 
this continent without once more turning my eyes to Virginia, 
to you and Monticello. I leave you my representative in that 
State, and near the persons who attach me to it, and i doubt 
not of your acceptance of this charge. Mr. Jefferson, Col. 
Randolph and his excellent Lady and family, the family i am 



'General Simon Bernard (1779-1839) — he seems to have revisited 
America with Lafayette in 1824. 



46 English Culture in Virginia. [234 

the most attached to in all America, will receive my adieus 
from you. Do not forget also that pure and virtuous soul at 
Montpellier and his Lady. You will i hope live long, my 
dear friend, and you will every day more and more see with 
your eyes what difference exists between the two philosophical 
Presidents, and the whole future contingent series of chiefs of 
your nation. 1 You know the rest of my acquaintances in your 
noble State, and the degrees of consideration i have for each, 

and you will distribute my souvenirs in proportion 

[He next mentions his election to the Albemarle Agricultural 
Society and requests Gilmer to return his thanks.] 

Glory yourself in being a Virginian, and remember all my 
discourses about them. It is the lot i would have wished for 
me if i was a North American, being a South American i am 
glad to be a Brazilian and you shall hear of what i do for my 
country if i live. 

Cras ingens iterabimus aquor — but every where, you will 
find me constantly and steadily 

Your faithful and sincere friend 

Joseph Correa de Serra. 

Correa did not go to Brazil. The altered condition of 
Portugal, due to the uprising of 1820, drew him back to his 
native country, and he became minister of finance under the 
constitutional government. He died in 1823, after as useful 
and as varied a life as it is given a man to lead. 

But this chapter has already exceeded the limits intended 
for it, so I shall only mention one other incident and then 
bring it to a close. On the 25th of October, 1823, Gilmer 
sent Mr. Jefferson, with his compliments, the six books of 
Cicero's De Re Publico, which had been discovered by the 
celebrated Italian philologist, Angelo Mai, and published by 
him in 1822. I had known from his letters that Gilmer was 



1 It is proper to say that the italics are my own. 



235] English Culture in Virginia. 47 

fond of the classics and especially of Cicero ; but I was some- 
what surprised to find that he kept up with European learning 
as assiduously as this fact would indicate. 

In answer to this very letter, it would seem, came the im- 
portant communication from Mr. Jefferson referred to at the 
close of the first chapter. 



CHAPTER III. 

THE LAW PROFESSORSHIP. 

The letter of November 23d, 1823, in which Mr. Jefferson 
asked his young friend to act as commissioner for procuring 
professors from England lias not been preserved ; but we have 
Gilmer's answer of December 3d, which lets us see that some- 
thing beside the new commission had been offered him. It 
has already been shown how important the professorship of 
law was in Mr. Jefferson's eyes; and we can form some idea 
of his estimate of Mr. Gilmer's abilities, when we learn that 
it was now proposed to entrust the chair to him. It would be 
useless to attempt to describe the young man's gratification : 
he knew full well what store the philosopher set by this par- 
ticular chair, and to be so honored at the early age of thirty- 
three proved even to his naturally despondent nature that Jiis 
life had not been in vain. But soon the flush of pride passed 
off, and serious questions began to propose themselves. He 
had an aptitude for speaking and for public life. He might 
reasonably look forward to Congress, and Virginians had 
been known to mount higher. Then the University was as 
yet in posse merely. The men who were to be his colleagues 
had not been secured ; and, though he himself was to choose 
them, he did not know whether good men were available at 
the salaries offered. He had succeeded well at the bar and 
had long formed plans of retirement with moderate wealth and 
of devotion to some single theme that should give him an 
acknowledged position among men of letters. At a new 
university he would have a constant round of lectures to give, 
48 



237] Miglish Oulture in Virginia. 49 

which would leave little time for outside literary work ; and 
the prospect of retirement with a fortune would be forever 
banished from his view. Then, too, he would be bound to 
continuous duty, with a constitution far from strong and liable 
to give way at any time. All these considerations weighed 
well with him, and we accordingly find him requesting time 
for his decision. But the commission was quite another thing, 
which he could take in place of his usual trip to the Springs. 
He had long desired to visit England and now he could go 
under the best auspices. And so we find him gladly accept- 
ing the charge and making some practical suggestions which 
seem to have been acted on. One of these was that the powers 
of the agent should not be limited to Great Britain and Ire- 
land, but should be extended to the continent where English 
letters were beginning to be studied. 1 Mr. Jefferson seems to 
have removed all absolute restrictions on his agent's move- 
ments ; but his preference remained decidedly for England, 
on account of the difficulties a European would have in 
thoroughly mastering our language and in appreciating our 
customs. 

The proposal that Gilmer should accept the office of agent 
to England seems to have been made him by three of the 
board of visitors without Mr. Jefferson's knowledge. Per- 
haps the law chair was held up before his eyes by his great 
friend, Chapman Johnson, although it was well known that 
Mr. Jefferson would have the deciding voice in that matter. 
Even as late as January, 1824, Cabell and Cocke seemed to 
have had no notion that Gilmer was in Mr. Jefferson's mind, 
as may be seen from the following extract taken from a letter 
of Cabell's, bearing date the 29th of January, 1824 : 

" Gen. Cocke and myself have long been thinking of Chan- 
cellor Carr as the Law Professor ; and we would be happy if 
there could be no commitment on that question. Mr. Carr's 
happy temper and manners, and dignified character, to say 

1 Madison's Writings, III, 353. 



50 English Culture in Virginia. [238 

nothing of his talents and acquirements, induced us to think 
of him as the head of the institution." ' 

Although the request that no commitment should be made, 
might at first blush indicate a suspicion that Mr. Jefferson 
had some one else in his mind, I do not think that such a 
suspicion existed, for all of the board regarded Mr. Jefferson 
as the father of the University, and their own votes as merely 
marks of honorable confidence in him. I can discover no 
trace of any self-seeking spirit, certainly not in Cabell or 
Cocke. 2 

To this letter of Mr. Cabell's, Jefferson made the following 
answer : 

Monticello, February 23, 1824. 

I remark what you say on the subject of committing our- 
selves to any one for the Law appointment. Your caution is 
perfectly just. I hope, and am certain, that this will be the 
standing law of discretion and duty with every member of 
our Board in this and all cases. You know that we have all, 
from the beginning, considered the high qualifications of our 
professors as the only means by which we could give to our 
institution splendor and pre-eminence over all its sister semi- 
naries. The only question, therefore, we can ever ask our- 
selves, as to any candidate, will be, is he the most highly 

qualified? The College of has lost its character of 

primacy by indulging motives of favoritism and nepotism, 
and by conferring appointments as if the professorships were 
intrusted to them as provisions for their friends. And even 
that of Edinburgh, you know, is also much lowered from the 
sa^ie cause. We are next to observe, that a man is not quali- 



1 Jefferson-Cabell Correspondence, page 289. 

2 But Mr. Madison was acquainted with Mr. Jefferson's purpose, and had 
from the beginning preferred Gilmer to any of the learned lawyers pro- 
posed for the chair, as appears from a letter of his to Jefferson, Nov. 11, 
1823. See Madison's Writings, III, 343. 



239] English Culture in Virginia. 51 

fied for a professor, knowing nothing but merely his own 
profession. He should be otherwise well educated as to the 
sciences generally ; able to converse understaudingly with the 
scientific men with whom he is associated, and to assist in the 
councils of the Faculty on any subject of science on which 
they may have occasion to deliberate. Without this, he will 
incur their contempt and bring disreputation on the institu- 
tion. With respect to the professorship you mention, I scarcely 
know any of our judges personally ; but I will name, for 

example, the late Judge who, I believe, was generally 

admitted to be among the ablest of them. His knowledge 
was confined to the common law merely, which does not con- 
stitute one-half the qualification of a really learned lawyer, 
much less that of a Professor of Law for an University. And 
as to any other branches of science, he must have stood mute 
in the presence of his literary associates, or of any learned 
strangers or others visiting the University. Would this con- 
stitute the splendid stand we propose to take ? ' 

The individual named in your letter is one of the best, and 
to me the dearest of living men. From the death of his 
father, my most cherished friend, leaving him an infant in 
the arms of my sister, I have ever looked on him as a son. 
Yet these are considerations which can never enter into the 
question of his qualifications as a Professor of the University. 
Suppose all the chairs filled in similar degree, would that 
present the object which we have proposed to ourselves, and 
promised to the liberalities and expectations of our country ? 
In the course of the trusts which I have exercised through 
life, with powers of appointment, I can say with truth, and 
unspeakable comfort, that I never did appoint a relation to 
office, and that merely because I never saw the case in which 
some one did not offer or occur, better qualified ; and I have 
the most unlimited confidence that in the appointment of 



1 What would Jefferson say to the specialists now forming our modern 
faculties ? 



52 English Culture in Virginia. [240 

Professors to our nursling institution, every individual of my 
associates will look with a single eye to the sublimation of 
its character, and adopt as our sacred motto, 'detur digniori.' 
In this way it will honor us, and bless our country. . . ."' 

It is evident, I think, from the stress laid upon general 
scientific and literary attainments, that the old diplomat 
was trying to suggest Gilmer's appointment without being 
obliged to mention his name or the fact that he had long ago 
made up his own mind and consulted Gilmer about it. 

Be this as it may, Carr's name was taken out of the list of 
possible appointees by his being elected a judge of the Court 
of Appeals — a position which his friends had long desired for 
him, and which he had, doubtless, dreamed about himself. 
There is a good deal of correspondence about this matter con- 
tained in the two volumes before me, and I subjoin a letter 
from Francis Gilmer to Carr announcing the latter's election. 
This letter will give a fair sample of the familiar intercourse 
between Wirt and Carr, and the two Gilmers — Peachy and 
Francis. 1 may remark that the office had long been depend- 
ing upon the death of a once respectable but now super- 
annuated judge, and that some of the letters on the subject 
remind one strikingly of the magnificent chapter with which 
" Barchester Towers " begins. 

Conference room Ct. Appeals 
24th Feby. 1824 

To the honorable Dabney Carr Puisne Judge of the Court 
of Appeals. It grieveth my heart most noble judge, that in 
the five years I have lived here, I have been able to do no 
more for thee, than sound thy praises, for this office, which 
long due has come at last — Thy merit hath won it, & not 
the feeble efforts of thy friends. The ballot was thus to-day 
| pas[t] 2 o'clock. 



1 JefFerson-C'abell Correspondence, page 391. Quoted also by Randall, 
III, 497. 



241] English Culture in Virginia. 53 

1st Ballot Can- 90. Barbour 1 66. Brock 02 39. 

2nd Carrll4. Barbour 87 

Come down as soon as you can. 

Your friend, 

F. W. Gilmer. 

It was equally a matter of gratification to Gilmer that 
Henry St. G. Tucker was chosen to succeed Carr as chancellor 
of the Winchester district. Thus was fulfilled that remark- 
able prophecy mentioned by Kennedy in his life of Wirt. 
Wirt had long ago been made Attorney General, James Bar- 
bour had been sent to the Senate and was soon to be Secretary 
of War, and Dabney Carr was judge of the Court of Appeals. 3 

It had been resolved to keep Gilmer's mission a secret, for 
fear that American patriotism would howl diJwn the newly- 
built walls of the University as soon as it was known that 
British voices would be heard therein. Few letters were written 
about it, but they show incidentally that the young agent went 
up to Albemarle early in the spring of 1824 and there held 
many consultations with his chief, in which Mr. Madison of 
course shared. But even then the newspapers got some ink- 
ling of what was going on, and we find in the Richmond 
Enquirer for May 18th, 1824, the following item in very 
small type : " Mr. F. W. Gilmer of this city has sailed for 
England, it is said, to make arrangements (for library, appa- 
ratus, &c.) to put the University of Virginia into immediate 
operation." It was then deemed best to put a bold face on 

1 P. P. Barbour of Orange County, previously Speaker of the House of 
Representatives, afterwards Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the 
United States. 

8 Win. Broekenborough, then a judge of the General Court. In ten years 
he took his seat beside Carr as a judge of the Court of Appeals. 

3 In one of their trips to the Fluvanna court, James Barbour began taking 
off the peculiarities of his companions and wound up by predicting that 
they would rise to the offices mentioned in the text. See Kennedy's Life 
of Wirt, 1,71. 



54 English Culture in Virginia. [242 

the matter and to enter into explanations. Accordingly in 
the same newspaper for May 25th, Gen. Cocke gave a notice 
of the progress of the University, in which he stated that an 
agent had gone to England for professors, but laid great stress 
on the fact that the chairs of government and morals had been 
reserved for native Americans. 

In the meantime, however, Mr. Gilmer had hurried through 
Washington " incog," as he expressed it to Mr. Wirt, and, 
arriving in New York, had sailed early on the morning of 
May the 8th on the packet Cortes, bound for Liverpool. 

I shall end this chapter by requesting the reader to imagine 
him pacing the deck and laughing at sea-sickness, longing to 
catch sight of the English shore and wondering whether the 
reality would equal his dreams — -also perhaps glancing over 
his papers, among which lay letters of introduction from both 
Madison and Jefferson 1 to Richard Rush, our Minister at 
London. 2 



1 These letters are to be found in Madison's Writings, III, 437, and Ran- 
dall's Life of Jefferson, III, 497. 

In Jefferson's letter Gilmer is mentioned as "the best educated subject 
we have raised since the Revolution ; highly qualified in all the important 
branches of science, professing particularly that of the Law, which he has 
practised some years at our Supreme Court with good success and flattering 
prospects." Jefferson goes on to say that he does not expect to get such 
men as Oullen and Robertson and Porson, but he hopes to get the men who 
are treading on their heels, and who may prefer certain success in America 
to uncertain success in England. 

2 This gentleman (1780-1850) was a son of the well known Dr. Benja- 
min Rush and filled the offices of Attorney General of the United States, 
of temporary Secretary of State, of Minister to England (1817-25), of Sec- 
retary of the Treasury under John Quincy Adams, and Minister to France. 
He was also the author of " Memoranda of a Resident at the Court of St. 
James," &c. The edition of 1845 does not mention Gilmer's visit. 



CHAPTER IV. 
THE MISSION. 

On Sunday, the 6th of June, 1824, Mr. Gilmer found him- 
self in Liverpool. His first task was to write to Mr. Jefferson 
of his safe arrival. We may imagine the pleasure it gave the 
old gentleman to receive this short epistle on the 29th of July, 
and to sit in his library with the precious missive in his hands 
indulging pleasant day-dreams about the child of his old age. 
Professors and a library were now all he wanted and for these 
he depended on Gilmer alone ; for his own life was evidently 
drawing to a close, and if anything happened to this agent, 
he might not live to see his University opened and to say his 
" nunc dimittis." The letter was, as I have said, a short one. 
The ship had been twenty-six days making from New York 
to Holyhead. For six days they had been driven about by 
adverse gales in St. George's channel, and Gilmer had in 
despair disembarked at Holyhead and gone through Wales to 
Liverpool. He went to Liverpool instead of London for 
business purposes which the letter does not explain. 

The next communication with Mr. Jefferson is from London 
and bears the date of June 21st. I shall now let Mr. Gilmer 
tell his own story, only adding such facts and explanations as 
seem to be important. 1 



1 In the letters which follow I have not consciously made any alterations 
except occasionally in punctuation and in substituting full for abbreviated 
forms. 

55 



56 English Culture in Virginia. [244 

London, 21s< June, 1824. 
Dear Sir. 

I wrote to you at Liverpool informing you of my arrival 
on the sixth. Hatton lying immediately in my way to 
London, I determined to call on Dr. Parr ; unluckily for 
me, he had gone to Shrewsbury, and I shall be obliged to 
visit Hatton again, before I go to Oxford. 

Since my arrival in London eight days ago, Mr. Rush (who 
is soon to return to the U. S.) has been so constantly engaged, 
that he could do nothing for me till yesterday. Indeed, the 
persons with whom he was to act, have been equally occupied 
in Parliament, the session being near its close, and as with us, 
the business of weeks is crowded into the few last days. Yes- 
terday (Sunday) I received the necessary letters to Cambridge, 
Oxford, and Edinburgh, from Lord Teignmouth ' and Mr. 
Brougham, Sir James Mackintosh being so occupied with the 
London and Manchester petitions for the recognition of the 
Independence of S. America that he has done nothing for us. 
I have conversed both with Lord T. and Mr. Brougham, who 
have both taken a lively interest in the object of my mission; 
the latter especially is very ardent for our success. 

Finding no specific objection, nor indeed any objection, to 
Dr. Blaetterman[h], I have closed the engagement with him, 
as I considered myself instructed to do. He will sustain a 
considerable loss by his removal, having recently taken and 
furnished a large house. I did not therefore hesitate to offer 
him in the outset $1500 for the first year, with an intimation 
that he would probably be reduced to $1000 in the second, 
but leaving that entirely to the Visitors, preferring to make 
positive stipulations for the shortest possible time. Nor did 
I hint even anything of the guarantee of $2500. 

Having thus concluded my arrangements in London, I shall 
set out to-morrow for Cambridge, where my real difficulties 



'John Shore — Lord Teignmouth (1751-1834) — was an Indian official of 
some distinction, but is best known as the Editor of Sir Wm. Jones' works. 



245] English Culture in Virginia. 57 

will begin, and where they will be greatest. I have antici- 
pated all along that it would be most difficult to procure a fit 
mathematician and experimental philosopher ; for both are in 
great demand in Europe. Mr. Brougham intimated that it 
was by no means improbable, that Ivory ' (the first mathema- 
tician without rival in G. B.) might be induced to engage for 
us : and I should certainly have gone at once to Woolwich to 
see him ; but he accompanied the statement b) T remarking that 
he had recently been a good deal disordered in his mind and 
unable to attend to his studies. He had recovered, but there 
is always clanger of a recurrence of these maladies. Say noth- 
ing of this, however; for I may find this account exaggerated, 
or wholly untrue, and may hereafter confer with Ivory, and 
possibly contract with him. 

I can do nothing about the books and apparatus till I-have 
engaged professors ; all that part of my undertaking is there- 
fore deferred until my return to London. I have seen Laek- 
ington's 2 successors, and endeavoured to impress upon them 
the importance of atteution and moderate charges in their 
dealings with us. 

You will hear from me again from Cambridge; accept 
therefore I pray you my best wishes. 

P. S. Blaetterman[n] is in the prime of life — has a wife 
and two small children, and they appear amiable and domes- 
tic: 3 he speaks English well, tho' not without a foreign accent; 



'James Ivory (1765-1S42) was educated at the University of St. 
Andrews, and, after studying theology and drifting from teaching to super- 
intending a flax spinning factory, was, in consequence of his remarkable 
memoirs on mathematical subjects, appointed professor of that study in 
the Royal Military Academy at Marlow. This Gilmer mistook for Wool- 
wich, and consequently he never found Ivory, who had resigned his pro- 
fessorship in 1810. Brougham continued to be Ivory's friend, for in 1831 
he got him a pension of £300. See Gentleman's Mag., May, 1843, p. 537. 

8 Booksellers recommended by Mr. Jefferson. 

3 1 could not help smiling on reading this ingenuous remark, for I 
remembered to have heard that Dr. B. was afterwards dismissed from the 
University for beating his wife. I do not know whether this report was 
5 



58 English Culture in Virginia. [246 

that we are obliged to encounter every way, as there are no 
profound English professors of modern language[s]. 

It appears from this letter, and from the letter of intro- 
duction to Rush, that Mr. Jefferson already knew of Dr. 
George Blaettermann, and that Gilmer went prepared to 
engage him, if possible, as professor of modern languages. 
Of Dr. Blaettermann's antecedents I have been unable to pro- 
cure any information. Recommendations of the man appear 
to have been sent to Jefferson by George Ticknor as early as 
1819. 

Although Mr. Rush was very busy, he managed to find time 
to write" Gilmer a long letter on the 16th of June in which he 
states that he had written to the three distinguished men men- 
tioned in the letter just given, and that although Mr. Jefferson 
had overrated his ability to be of use to Mr. Gilmer, his dis- 
position to be so used could not be overrated. Lord Teign- 
mouth in replying to Mr. Rush on the date last mentioned 
enclosed four letters of recommendation, to two representative 
men at Oxford and Cambridge respectively. Three of these 
letters were written by his son in their joint names, the fourth 
was addressed by Lord Teignmouth himself to Dr. Coplestone 
(whose name he misspells) at Oxford. His lordship's courte- 
ous note hardly needs to be inserted. Dr. Edward Coplestone 
(1776-1849), afterwards Bishop of Llaudaff and one of the 
first English clergymen to learn Welsh that his congregation 
might understand him, was at this time Provost of Oriel. 
Gilmer could not have been referred to a better man ; but as 
the letter in which he describes his visit to Oxford, does not 
mention Dr. Coplestone, it is possible that the two did not 
meet. Coplestone could have given him excellent advice as 
to his selection of a classical professor; for he had himself 



true, but it bears a curious relation to the story told about his successor, 
another foreigner, who was forced to leave because his wife beat him. 



247] English Culture in Virginia. 59 

defended elegant classical scholarship against the Edinburgh 
reviewers. 1 

Brougham's note to Mr. Rush I give in full. 

Hill St., Saturday. 
My dear Sir — 

I am extremely sorry that I have not been able sooner to 
answer your very interesting letter — inclosing one from your 
truly venerable friend — I feel the liveliest interest in the suc- 
cess of Mr. G's mission — which is of great importance to both 
countries — but the difficulty is not small which Mr. Jefferson 
most sagaciously points out. I have inclosed three letters to 
the fittest persons at Cambridge & Edinburgh. At the latter 
place I am quite sure, he ought to say nothing to any one — but 
quietly go to Mr. Murray 2 — who intimately knows all the 
learned men there — & in whose judgement and honour he may 
safely trust. As for Cambridge, Dr. Davy 3 — the master of 
Caius College to whom I give him a letter, is now in London 
& will be here for two days longer — I shall see him to-morrow 
& consult him generally upon the subject — & if Mr. G. could 
be kind enough to call here to-morrow morning soon after 
eleven, I could take him to the Dr. — and I should beside, be 



1 1 must once for all acknowledge my indebtedness to Mr. Leslie Stephen's 
wonderful Dictionary of National Biography. I have drawn from it when- 
ever I could. Appleton's Cyclopaedia of American Biography and Drake's 
American Biography have also been of service to me. I have indicated 
other sources of information where they seemed important. 

2 Undoubtedly Mr. John A. Murray, the eminent Whig lawyer, co-editor 
at one time of the Edinburgh Review, Clerk of the Pipe (a sinecure which 
got him a slap from Christopher North in the Noctes) and afterwards a 
Scotch Justice. Lord Murray's hospitality is amply testified to. It will be 
seen that he was very kind to Gilmer. (See Mrs. Gordon's "Christopher 
North," New York, 1875, page 387.) 

3 Dr. Martin Davy (1763-1839) was a successful physician who was made 
Master of Caius in 1803. In spite of some questionable proceedings, he is 
considered to have been a good master upon the whole. He was a strong 
Whig and a great friend of Dr. Parr'6. 



60 English Culture in Virginia. [248 

desirous of seeing him & putting him on his guard against 
the various deceptions or rather exaggerations which will be 
practised upon him — if he lets the object of his mission be 
known to any but a very few. 

Believe me to be, 

Wt. great respect 
and esteem 

Your faithful Serv't 

H. Brougham. 

From the execrable hand and the constant abbreviations to 
be seen in this note one might infer, even if one did not know 
it already, that Mr. Brougham was then the busiest man in 
London. 

In the meantime Mr. Jefferson had written Gilmer a letter, 
which though not received until later, may as well be inserted 
here. 

Monticello, June 5, '24. 
Dear Sir. 

The printer having disappointed me in getting ready, in 
time to send to you before your departure, the original report 
of the plan of the University, I now inclose you half a dozen 
copies, one for Dr. Stuart [he meant Dugald Stewart], the 
others to be disposed of as you please. I am sorry to inform 
you that we fail in getting the contingent donation of 50 M. D. 
[$50,000] made to us by our last legislature, so we have 
nothing more to buy books or apparatus. I cannot help 
hoping however that the next session will feel an incumbency 
on themselves to make it good otherwise, an easy mode may 
occur. W m and Mary college, reduced to 11 students, and to 
the determination to shut their doors on the opening of ours, 
are disposed to petition the next legislature to remove them to 
Richmond, it is more reasonable to expect they will consoli- 
date them with the University, this would add about 6 M. D. 
a year to our revenue. 



249] English Culture in Virginia. 61 

Soon after you left us, I received from Maj r Cartwright, a 
well-known character in England, a letter, and a volume on 
the English constitution, having to answer his letter, I put 
it under your cover, with a wish you could deliver it in person, 
it will probably be acceptable to yourself to have some per- 
sonal acquaintance with this veteran and virtuous patriot; and 
it is possible he may be useful to you, as the favorable senti- 
ments he expresses towards our University assure me he would 
willingly be. perhaps he would accept a copy of the Report, 
which I would ask you to present him in my name, ever & 
affectionately yours 

Th: Jefferson. 

On the back of this is endorsed, " Received Cambridge, 
14th July, 1824 — without the pamphlets, so could not take 
one to D. Stewart." But the reports seem to have come later. 

Gilmer now left London for Cambridge from which place 
he wrote the following letter to Mr. Jefferson : 

Cambridge, 7th July, 1824. 
Dear Sir, 

I left London for this place on the 22d of June, immedi- 
ately I had procured from Mr. Rush the necessary letters. I 
found on my arrival here the same evening that the long 
vacation at the University had virtually commenced three 
weeks before, that is while I was at sea. Of the three persons 
to whom I had letters, he, on whom Mr. Brougham princi- 
pally relied, was absent on a visit of a week. 1 I employed 
the time as well as I could, in enquiring into the state of 
learning here, and what in this dilemma would be my best 
method of proceeding. I found natural history very little 
attended to, and should therefore be content to procure a 
Mathematician and Natural Philosopher from this University, 
indeed from what I can learn, there are no particular reasons 
for preferring the Professor of experimental philosophy from 

1 Dr. Davy. 



62 English Culture in Virginia. [250 

Cambridge. But they from whom I should have had some 
chance of selecting fit persons, had, in all the departments of 
learning, gone to their various homes in different parts of the 
kingdom. This puts me in some respects to great disadvan- 
tage, for I shall have to travel a vast deal to see them. As 
yet I have learned but of one, whom I should probably 
choose, that is a Mr. Atkinson, 1 formerly "Wrangler" in 
Trinity College, Cambridge, now teaching a school in Scotland. 
He is spoken of as a first rate mathematician, and I shall 
endeavor to see him in my visit to Scotland. 

For the teacher of ancient languages two have been sug- 
gested, both residing in London. I defer acting on that 
branch, until I visit Oxford and see Dr. Parr. Sir James 
Edw. Smith is at the head of natural history in England, and 
he was in Norfolk when I was in London — as he is now. 
Being nearer him than I shall be again in my regular route, 
I shall spend part of a day with him, proceed to Oxford, and 
then to Edinburgh. It seemed to be thought most probable 
that our Professor of natural history will be best found in 
Scotland, or at London, tho' we shall any where find it diffi- 
cult to procure one learned both in botany and zoology. From 
what I hear our Professor of medicine shall probably come 
also from London, but I shall form no opinion of this, until 
I see Edinburgh. After remaining sometime at Oxford and 
Edinburgh, I shall return to London, as a central point, and 
make short excursions as I may find necessary, in order to 
complete the important object of my mission. I shall forbear 
to give any general opinion until I have seen Oxford and 
Edinburgh. 

The manner of my reception at Cambridge has softened 
my profound respect and veneration for the most renowned 



'Henry Atkinson (1781-1829) of Newcastle on Tyne is the only Atkinson 
of mathematical celebrity that I can discover. He did teach in Scotland ; 
but he does not appear ever to have been at Cambridge; for at the age of 
thirteen he was principal of a school ! 



251] English Culture in Virginia. 63 

University in the world into a warm esteem for all connected 
with it. From the Bishop of Bristol ' and Dr. Davy down 
to the undergraduates, all have vied with each other in the 
profusion and delicacy of their civilities. I have dined more 
than half the days in the Hall of Trinity College, the most 
famous of all, and was delighted with the urbanity and good 
breeding of the fellows, students and of every one who 
appeared. The tone of feeling in England is undoubtedly 
favorable to us of the U. S. I have heard every where the 
warmest expressions of friendship for us, and have certainly 
received every civility possible. At the great festival at the 
College yesterday, every one with whom I conversed enquired 
with the utmost earnestness into the different departments of 
our affairs ; the Lawyers are beginning to read our reports, 
the courts and even the Parliament have in several things fol- 
lowed, and somewhat boastfully, I may say, our example. I 
am very glad of all this ; for now we have grown beyond the 
reach of this enormous creature, at once a Leviathan and a 
Lion, there is no good in keeping alive angry feelings. 

Mr. Brougham enquired about you with the greatest inter- 
est. I shall write you again from Oxford, &c. 

I do not know whether the proposed visit was made to Sir 
James Edward Smith. If Gilmer did not see the latter gen- 
tleman, then within four years of his death, we may be sure 
that he relinquished the visit with disappointment, for Sir 
James was the most distinguished botanist in England, having 
been the founder of the Linnrean Society, and botany had 
always been Gilmer's favorite study. We shall see hereafter 
that this trip to Cambridge was successful in more than a 
social sense, for by it Gilmer was enabled to secure two of the 
best of the first professors. 



1 Dr. J. Kaye (1783-1S53) had become Bishop of Bristol on the death of 
Dr. Mausel in 1820. He had been Master of Christ's College and Regius 
Professor of Divinity. I may remark that Dr. Christopher Wordsworth 
was at this time Master of Trinity. 



64 English Culture in Virginia. [252 

The promised letter from Oxford does not seem to have 
been written, but in the meantime we have two letters of a 
more personal nature which seem worthy of presentation and 
require no comments. 

The first is to his brother, Peachy Gilmer, and I deem it 
proper to say that I have not had time to verify any of Gil- 
mer's statements, except such as are germane to the subject of 
this essay. 

Boston, 2 July, 1824. 
My dear brother, (Lincolnshire.) 

This is the place our Boston of Massachusetts was called 
after. The daughter has outgrown the mother. This is a 
very small town, on a very small stream, what we would call 
a creek, here dignified with the name of river, with very small 
trade, and in short with nothing large about it, except a most 
enormous tower to the church, which I came here principally 
to see. For when I got to Cambridge, I found one of the 
principal persons I was to consult with, absent for some days, 
and not to lose the time, I took a small circuit to Peterbor- 
ough, Lincoln, and Boston, passing in my way thro' Stilton, 
famous for chesees, a village not as large as Liberty. 1 

Lincoln is of great antiquity, and has one of the finest 
Cathedrals in England. The site of it (the Cathedral) too is 
beautiful — it stands on an eminence higher and more abrupt 
than the capitol hill of Richmond — all around is one vast 
plain, till lately a fen, reclaimed and now a lovely meadow. 
The town of Lincoln is no great matter; here, too, is a tower 
of W m . the Conqueror,— a palace of John of Gaunt, a Roman 
court, with chequered pavement, &c. From Lincoln I de- 
scended the Witham to this place. The Witham is about as 
large as the canal near the basin ; it flows thro' an unbroken 
meadow, not of great fertility, nor at all beautiful, or pictur- 



1 Peachy Gilmer lived for some years at Liberty, a small town in Bedford 
county, Va. 



253] English Culture in Virginia. 65 

esque, tho' you see steeples and towers on all sides. The 
country of Lincoln is richer in old buildings than any part 
of England, but the country was by nature, I think, not 
generally fertile, something like those cold, iron-ore bogs we 
sometimes have, black and of rich appearance, but of no life 
or strength. 

My reception at Cambridge was what has given me most 

pleasure I have been really domesticated (& was 

invited to take rooms) in Trinity College, the most renowned 
without doubt in the world. It is the favorite College of the 
nobility and gentry of England — here were educated Bacon, 
Coke, Harvey, Newton, Cotes, Cowley, Dryden, &c. &c. 
They shewed MS. letters of Newton, and several of the inter- 
lined originals of Milton's smaller Poems, part of his original 
Paradise Lost, Ac. &c, and at Christ's College (which was 
Milton's) the Bishop of Bristol shewed me the mulberry tree 
Milton planted ; a fine bust of him, and many curious things 
else. I walked moreover to Granchester, (2 miles from Cam- 
bridge) supposed to be the country church yard, Gray had in 
mind, in his immortal elegy. It was ever a favorite walk 
with Gray, lying thro' hedges, covered with wild roses and 
briars, a meadow on the margin of the Cam — I heard " the 
Curfew toll the knell of parting day " at 9 o'clock. But all 
this did not give one-half the pleasure I have derived a 
thousand times from repeating the elegy, in hours of " lonely 
contemplation," which heaven has given me in kindness or in 
wrath, God knows which. I go to-morrow to Cambridge, 
thence to Oxford, thence to Edinburgh. 

The eastern side of England is not beautiful, and with all 
those noble steeples and towers, but for Cambridge, J should 
have found small pleasure since I left London. The country 
west of London was every where (except Staffordshire) most 
enchanting ; tho' by nature rather less fertile, I think, than I 
have heard it represented. I was at the House of Commons, 
the Courts, Westminster Abbey, (which has nothing but Henry 
VII's Chapel and its awful history to interest me) and every 



66 English Culture in Virginia. [254 

where, but I hate descriptive writing and descriptive reading, 
but not descriptive talking, so I will give you the whole when 
we meet. 

I saw J. Randolph in London — lookiug badly. You will 
think it strange, fondly treated as I was at Cambridge, that 
I should think of returning. I assure you I already begin to 
languish for Virginia. I never liked being jostled from place 
to place — crowds or strangers — here are all. Since I left 
London, I have not seen a single person. I have found John 
Bull far more civil every where than he is represented to be. 
The tone of manners in the higher walks, is exactly what I 
have seen in Virginia. McClurg, John Walker, old Mr. 
Fleming 1 &c. were fully as elegant as Lord Teignmouth or 
Lord Bishop of Bristol &c. but not more so, for the manners 
of all were unexceptionable. There is less dashing than you 
suppose, less pretension than with the new-born gentility of the 
Eastern States. 

I do not know when I may have leisure to write again. I 
am detained a day here for a coach, and calling you all to 
mind & heart, I could not resist the temptation of addressing 
a few words to you 

The next is to Mr. Wirt and has been taken from Ken- 
nedy's Life (Vol. II, 187.) 

July 16, 1824. 
Mi/ dear Mr. Wirt, 

I write you my first letter from England, not from War- 
wick Castle or Guy's Cliff, — which are both near at hand — 
nor from Stratford generally, but from the identical room in 
which the immortal bard first came " into this breathing 



1 Fleming was, possibly, the judge whom Dabney Carr succeeded. Walker 
I do not know of — unless he was the John Walker who was appointed to 
succeed Grayson in the Senate in 1790. As I cannot ascertain the date of 
this Walker's death, the point must remain in doubt, but from an expres- 
sion used in another letter I am inclined to think that he was the man. 



255] English Culture in Virginia. 67 

world." Here day first dawned upon his infant eyes — a mis- 
erable hovel. Imagine in that hovel a small room, with a low 
roof; but one window,— that looking to the setting sun; a 
fire-place advanced into the room, by the naked chimney 
coming through the floor. The house is neither wood nor 
brick, but a wooden frame with the intervals filled up with 
brick. The wooden beams are shrunk and warped by weather 
and time. On the lower floor is a butcher's stall. Nowhere 
is there a single vestige of Shakespeare. His chair is gone. 
His mulberry tree, which was in the garden, is attached to 
another house ; it is reduced to the last fibre. Except his 
will, and the walls and beams of this lowly mansion, I know 
of no object in existence which he touched. Here the wise 
and the great repair to worship him. In the register before 
me is the name of Sir Walter Scott among other less illus- 
trious. The walls were once scribbled over by men of genius 
and fame — Fox, Pitt, and others, — but a mischievous tenant 
lately whitewashed them, and you see only what have been 
recently written. 

His body lies near the altar in the church, and neither name, 
nor date, nor arms appear upon the stone ; conclusive circum- 
stances, I think, to show that he wrote the epitaph which is 
sculptured upon the stone. This has been doubted. What 
but the modesty of his own great mind could limit the epitaph 
of Shakespeare to the expression of the simple wish that his 
bones might rest undisturbed in their last repository? We 
have seen the lines in Johnson's life of him, but here is a fac 
simile: 1 

I inquired of half a dozen persons in Stratford for the tomb 
of Shakespeare before I could find it. I should not have 
been surprised if this had occurred in a search for the tomb 
of Newton or Milton. But I was amazed at its happening in 
the case of the poet of all ages and conditions. 



1 Here follow the well-known lines. 



68 English Culture in Virginia. [256 

I begin to be impatient to see Virginia once more. It is 
more like England than any other part of the United States — 
slavery non obstante. Remove that stain, blacker than the 
Ethiopian's skin, and annihilate our political schemers, and 
it would be the fairest realm on which the sun ever shone. 
I like the elbow room we have, where the wild deer cross the 
untrodden grass, and the original forest never heard the echo 
of the woodman's axe. There is nothing in England so 
beautiful as the scenery of Albemarle, or the view from 
Montevideo — the window from which you used to gaze on 
the deep blue depth of these [those?] silent and boundless 
mountains. 

Peace to them ! — and a blessing warm, though from afar, 
on you and all your house ! 

Yours affectionately, 

F. W. Gilmer. 

Having tarried some days in Oxford, Gilmer went to pay 
his respects to Dr. Parr, to whom Mr. Jefferson had given 
him a letter and from whom he expected much assistance in 
his choice of a classical professor. Nearly everyone has 
heard of Dr. Parr, scarcely anyone has read a line of what 
he wrote. He was now in his seventy-seventh year, and, we 
may not doubt, wore his wig as of old, smoked shag tobacco, 
and talked about how narrowly he escaped being made a 
bishop. But to the reader of De Quincey and of the Nodes 
Ambrosianae any description I can give of this quaint old 
scholar, who certainly knew more Latin than any man living, 
will seem lame and borrowed ; so, presuming that my readers 
have read the Nodes, I shall merely remark that Gilmer 
called upon him on the 17th of July, but found him setting 
out " on his travels," which proved not extensive as he sent 
Gilmer a note inviting him to come back the next morning. 
The handwriting in this note is only equalled by that of the 
celebrated Du Pont. Our next letter is to Mr. Jefferson, 
written from Dr. Parr's : 



257] . , English Culture in Virginia. 69 

Hatton, July 20th, 1824. 
Dear Sir. 

Doctor Parr (Samuel) was delighted with your letter, and 
received me with the greatest kindness : I have now been two 
days with him. Tho' not above 76 years of age, I soon 
discovered that he was too infirm, to be of much service to 
us in the selection of professors. Tho' he is our decided and 
warm friend, my interview with him has been the most discour- 
aging. He has however been of great service, by assisting me 
in forming a catalogue of classical Books for the university. 

I found at Oxford as at Cambridge, that Professors and 
students, had all gone to their summer residence, and I could 
consequently make no inquiries at all there. I have now 
however, seen enough of England, and learned enough of the 
two universities, to see, that the difficulties we have to 
encounter, are greater even than we supposed ; not so much 
from the variety of applications, as from the difficulty of 
inducing men of real abilities to accept our offer. By far the 
greater portion of any assembly so numerous as that which 
fills the walls of Oxford and Cambridge, must of course be 
composed of persons of very moderate capacity. Education 
at the Universities has become so expensive, that it is almost 
exclusively confined to the nobility and the opulent gentry, 
no one of whom could we expect to engage. Of the few 
persons at Oxford, or Cambridge, who have any extraordi- 
nary talent, I believe 99 out of 100, are designed for the 
profession of law, the gown, or aspire to political distinction ; 
and it would be difficult to persuade one of these, even if 
poor, to repress so far the impulse of youthful ambition as to 
accept a professorship in a college in an unknown country. 
They who are less aspiring, who have learning, are caught 
up at an early period in their several colleges ; soon become 
fellows, & hope to be masters, which with the apartments, 
garden, and 4. 5. or 600 £ sterling a year, comprises all they 
can imagine of comfort or happiness. Just at this time too, 
there are building at Cambridge, two very large colleges 



70 English Culture in Virginia. [258 

attached to Trinity, and King's, which will be the most 
splendid of all. This creates a new demand for professors, 
and raises new hopes in the graduates. 

All these difficulties are multiplied by the system we have 
been compelled to adopt in accumulation [accumulating] so 
many burthens on one professor. To all the branches of 
natural philosophy, to add chemistry and astronomy, each 
of very great compass, strikes them here with amazement. 

The unprecedented length of the session you propose, is 
also a dismaying circumstance. As this will probably be 
altered in time, it is, I think, to be regretted that we had not 
begun with longer vacations. At Cambridge and Oxford 
there are three vacations. The longest is from about the 1st 
July to the 10th October, altogether there is a holiday of near 
5 months. I inquired at Cambridge if there was any good 
reason for this long recess. They answered, " It is indispen- 
sable : no one could study in such hot weather." .... "It 
is necessary to refresh the constitution, oppressed by the con- 
tinued application of many months," &c. If the heat be 
insufferable in England, what must it be in our July, August, 
&c when there is to be no vacation? 

I see distinctly that it will be wholly impossible to procure 
professors from cither University, by the time you wished. 
Whether I can find them elsewhere in England, is most doubt- 
ful ; in time I fear not. I shall not return without engaging 
them, if they are to be had, in G. B. or Germany. I have 
serious thoughts of trying Gottingen, where the late political 
persecutions of men of letters will naturally incline them to 
us and where classical literature, at least, is highly cultivated. 
Dr. Parr seems to prefer this course, but I shall not be hasty 
in adopting it, as I fear the want of our language will prove 
a great obstacle. [Here he makes some remarks about his 
personal expenses being greater than he had supposed and 
requests that the Board of Visitors forward another bill.] 

I set out for Edinburgh to-morrow, shall remain there as 
long as I find any advantage to our object, in doing so, and 



259] English Culture in Virginia. 71 

shall return to London. There I shall be able to learn whether 
I had best go to Germany, seek English scholars in the 
country, or quietly wait till the Universities open in October 
which would delay any final contract till December or January. 
I am not disheartened — at least we must keep things well, to 
present a good front to the next legislature. That I shall do, 
if possible. 

I received your letter to Maj' Cartwright while at Cam- 
bridge. I have not been to London since. &c. 

Leaving Hatton on the 21st of July, Gilmer was in Edin- 
burgh by the 25th, on which day he received a letter, in answer 
to one of his own, from a young man he had met and taken a 
fancy to in Cambridge. This was no other than Thomas 
Hewett Key, first professor of mathematics in the University 
of Virginia. Mr. Key was at this time in his 26th year and 
a master of arts of Trinity College, Cambridge. For two 
years past he had been applying himself to the study of 
medicine, but Gilmer, having met him at the rooms of Mr. 
Praed at Cambridge [evidently the exquisite society poet — 
Winthrop Mackworth Praed] perceived his fine scientific 
gifts and invited him by letter to become a member of the 
faculty. Key's, answer (written from London on the 23rd 
of July) is now before me and runs as follows : 

Friday, July 23, 1824, 

39 Lombard St., London. 1 
Dear Sir, 

Let me first apologize to you for any delay I may appear 
to have been guilty of in not sending a more early answer to 

'The two letters from Key and Long which I have inserted may vary 
slightly from the originals because they were intrusted to a stupid copyist 
whose stupidity was not discovered until the MSS. volumes had passed out 
of my possession. The variations are, I am certain, unimportant. All the 
other letters were either copied directly by myself or had my personal 
revision. 



72 English Culture in Virginia. [260 

the letter I had the pleasure of receiving from you. Not 
finding me at Cambridge which I had left the same morning 
with yourself, it was forwarded to my residence in town; and 
as I took rather a circuitous route homewards, it was not till 
two days after its arrival that it first came to my hands. 

The first opportunity I had after the receipt of it, I com- 
municated the contents to my Father under whose roof I am 
living; and lost no time in consulting with him on the pro- 
priety of accepting your proposal. And before I say a word 
more, you must allow me to thank you for the very handsome 
and indeed too flattering manner in which that proposal has 
been made to me. And, while 1 express myself proud of the 
favourable light in which you are pleased to view me, I assure 
you that the feeling is at least reciprocal. I had always the 
utmost respect for your country ; and, believe me, that it has 
been highly gratifying to me to find that opinion more than 
justified by the first of her sons whom I have ever had the 
pleasure to meet. I have been now for two years applying 
the greater part of my time to the study of medicine; and 
had, reluctantly indeed, made the determination to withdraw 
myself almost wholly from the pursuit of pure science and 
literature. Indeed nothing but your liberal proposition would 
have induced me once more to turn my thoughts to that 
quarter. You will allow then that it is natural for one, who 
has devoted so much of his time and no inconsiderable expense 
to the study of an arduous profession, to pause ; and weigh 
well every part of a proposal, which calls on him at once to 
sacrifice all the progress he has made, and to embark again in 
a perfectly new course. And this caution is the more requisite 
on the present occasion, since the mere distance would render 
it difficult for me, in the case of disappointment, to retrace my 
steps. Of course in the short limits of a letter it is impossible 
for either of us to say much ; and consequently in my present 
imperfect acquaintance with the detail of your offer it must be 
out of my power to come to any final arrangement till the 
time when we meet in town, I will in the mean while state 



261] English Culture in Virginia. 73 

generally what my feelings on the question are and leave you 
to judge how far we are likely ultimately to coincide. I own 
I have my share of ambition ; and every one who is not to be 
numbered in the class of fools or rogues will confess as much ; 
at the same time that ambition is of a character which is far 
from inconsistent with promoting the happiness of others. I 
have already said that I am fondly attached to the sciences ; 
and the strength of that attachment is proportional to each, as 
it appears to me calculated to advance the interests of man- 
kind. In the university of Cambridge I have often thought 
that this object is too much lost sight of; and that the great 
body of talent in that seat of knowledge is frequently directed 
to points of comparatively minor importance, and thus in a 
great measure thrown away whilst it might be employed in a 
manner so highly beneficial both for England and the whole 
world. It was a strong feeling of this kind, which, on the 
last night I had the pleasure of meeting you, led me perhaps 
to be too warm in the observations I made ; but I know not 
whether such warmth was not justifiable. At any rate I had 
the pleasure of knowing that what I then said had the effect 
of directing the thoughts of one gentleman who was present 
to my favorite subject of Political Economy ; and that gen 
tlemen (I mean Mr. Drinkwater 1 ) one whose talents I have 
the highest respect for. Having these views of the real 
objects of science, and actuated by an ambition which seeks, 
as far as my poor means are able, to add to the sum total 
of human happiness not merely in my own country but 
generally, I shall be most happy, should I find it in my 
power finally to agree to your offer. The manners, habits, 
and sentiments of the country will of course be congenial 
with my own ; and there can be little fear of my finding 



1 Mr. John Eliot Drinkwater-Bethune (1S01-1851), son of the historian 
of the Siege of Gibraltar, was afterwards counsel to the Home Office and 
an Indian official of high standing. He is chiefly remembered in connec- 
tion with his labors for the education of native girls of the higher castes. 

6 



74 English Culture in Virginia. [262 

myself unhappy in the society I am likely to meet with, con- 
sidering the favourable specimen I have already seen. Nor 
would it at all grieve me in a Political point of view to 
become, if I may be allowed that honour, a Citizen of the 
United States. With all these prepossessions in favour of 
your proposal, it remains for me only to enquire into the 
particular nature of the appointment you have so kindly 
offered me. I would wait till you return to town for the 
explanations you have there promised ; but of course it must 
be unpleasant to both of us to remain in suspense, and you 
will look on it as not impertinent, but rather as a proof 
how eager I am to arrive at a final determination, if I put 
the following queries. I"' What branch or branches of sci- 
ence you would wish me to devote my services to. 2 d,y ' What 
duties I should have to perform ; How far I should be at 
liberty to form my own plan of promoting that science; How 
for I should be under the direction of others and of whom ; 
How far I should have the control of my own time. And 
if to this you could add an account of the existing state of 
the University, of its government, the average number, age, 
and pursuits of the students &c, you would do much to 
enable me to come to a decisive conclusion. It will of course 
be impossible to reply fully to these questions ; and perhaps 
you can refer me to some person in town, to whom I may 
apply for immediate information ; which would be far prefer- 
able to the slow and necessarily confined channel of the Post 
Office. I trust too you will not think me guilty of any 
Indelicacy if I ask how far the University has given you 
authority to make any private arrangement and whether any 
agreement between us will not require some form of ratifica- 
tion in Virginia. On reference to the maps I find that Char- 
lottesville is the Capital of Albemarle county and that it is 
situated a considerable distance up the country. This of 
course must add much to the expense of my removal from 
this place to the University of Virginia and as this expense 
at the outset is a consideration of some importance to my 



263] English Culture in Virginia. 75 

empty purse I should be obliged to you if you could fur- 
nish me with an idea of it; and whether the University 
would be willing to diminish the weight of it. There are 
of course many other questions which on a little more reflec- 
tion would suggest themselves to me ; but I fear I have 
already drawn too largely on your time and patience. I will 
therefore conclude with assuring you that 

I am, with the greatest consideration, your obliged ser- 
vant, 

Thomas Hewett Key. 

On the evening we met at Mr. Praed's, I remember to have 
offered you a letter to Mr. McCulloh, 1 who lately lectured in 
town on Political Economy. It did not then occur to me that 
Mr. M. is at this moment repeating his course at Liverpool, 
and that consequently you are not likely to meet with him at 
Edinburgh. I shall, of course, obey your wish that the com- 
munications between us should be held secret ; and in consult- 
ing with my Father, you will perceive that I have violated 
only the letter of your request. 

Gilmer answered this letter on the 26th, as follows : 

Edinburgh, 26th July, 1824. 
Dear Sir, 

I have this morning received your letter of the 23d. and am 
gratified to find the temper of it just what I expected from 
you. I was aware that my proposition would require both 
time and examination into detail, and I therefore limited it to 
the general question in my former letter. I now take great 
pleasure in answering the enquiries you make, so far as the 
compass of a letter allows me ; I shall with equal satisfaction 
enter into fuller explanations when I see you in London, 
which I hope will be about the middle of August. 



1 Mr. MacCulloch published his " Principles of Political Economy ' 
about a year after this was written. 



76 English Culture in Virginia. [264 

The Professorship which I supposed you would most 
willingly accept, as that for which your studies and predelec- 
tions most eminently fitted you, is the chair of mathematics. 
We should require in the professor a competent knowledge of 
this science to teach it in all its branches to the full extent to 
which they have been explored and demonstrated in Europe — 
the differential calculus — its application to physics, the prob- 
lem of the three bodies, &c, &c. 

As to public utility. How can one be so useful in Europe, 
where the theatre in every department of science is more 
crowded with actors than with spectators, (if I may use the 
expression) as in the United States, where the mind of a great 
and rising nation is to be formed and enlightened in the 
more difficult departments of learning? But to answer your 
interrogatories seriatim, I will first observe that I am armed 
with complete and full powers to make the contract final and 
obligatory at once, by a power of attorney, which you shall see. 

Duties. Your office would be to teach the mathematical 
sciences by lessons, or lectures, whichever way you thought 
best, by a lecture on alternate days of an hour or hour and a 
half. And you will have nearly an absolute power as to the 
method of instruction. The only interference being by way 
of public examination, and the only thing required will be to 
find that the students make good progress. 

Direction. The University of Virginia, by the statute of 
incorporation, (which I will show you) is under the man- 
agement of seven visitors chosen by the Governor and 
Council of the State. The professors can be removed only 
by the concurring vote of | of the whole number, i. e., 
of 5 out of 7. These visitors are the most distinguished 
men, not of Virginia only, but of America, Mr. Jeffer- 
son, Mr. Madison, &c. 

Time. Your time would be entirely at your own dis- 
posal, except that it would be expected you should derive 
no emolument from any other office, the duties of which 
were to be discharged by yourself personally. 



265] English Culture in Virginia. 77 

Existing state of the University. The whole is now com- 
plete, ready for the reception of professors and of students. 
The houses for the professors are most beautiful ; the great 
building for lectures, &c, is magnificent — being on the plan 
of the Pantheon in Rome. 

Laws. The code of laws was not finished when I left 
Virginia; indeed, I believe it was purposely deferred, that 
my observations and those of the several professors might 
assist in the compilation. You may be assured they will 
be most liberal toward the professors. 

Probable number of students. Mr. Jefferson told me he 
had inquiries almost every post from various parts of the 
United States, to know when they would open their doors. 
He thought the first year there would certainly be 500 
pupils. Say that of these only 200 enter your course, and 
I should think nearly the whole would, and setting them 
down at 30 dolls, each, as the medium price, you would then 
receive from the students $6,000, from the university, 
$1,500 = to $7,500, or to £1,689 sterling. But if you 
received only £1,200 or £1,000, you would soon amass 
wealth enough to do as you pleased, for your expenses 
will not exceed £300 a year after the first year. You pay 
no rent for your house. 

The University visitors are very desirous to open in Feb- 
ruary next. To assist you out, I shall be quite at liberty 
to pay you in advance enough to bear your expenses to 
Charlottesville, and your salary will do the business after 
your arrival. The passage is 30 guineas to Richmond, and 
it will not cost you 5 to reach Charlottesville, with all your 
impedimenta. 

1. Now to another point. I wish to engage a first-rate 
scholar to teach the Latin and Greek languages profoundly — 
if he understand Hebrew, all the better. 

2. A person capable of teaching anatomy and physiology 
thoroughly, with the history of the various theories of medi- 
cine, from Hippocrates clown. 



78 English Culture in Virginia. [266 

3. A person capable of demonstrating the modern system of 
physics, including astronomy. 

4. A person capable of teaching natural history, including 
botany, zoology, mineralogy, chemistry, and geology. 

You may probably be able to assist me in procuring 
fit persons for some of these departments, and you would do 
me a great favor. Could men of real learning and congenial 
habits be selected, it would make it one of the most pleasant 
situations that exist. 

I should not omit to mention that Charlottesville is 80 
miles above Richmond, the metropolis of the State, on navi- 
gable water, and already connected by the James River with 
Richmond. 

Yours with great respect and consideration, &c, 

F. W. Gilmer. 

Five years will make you a citizen of the U. S., with 
a compliance with certain forms, about which I will direct 
you. Birth will make your posterity so — I wish them in 
anticipation, as I wish you most sincerely, a career of utility 
and of glory in our flourishing country. 1 

The next letter we have is one of August 1st, from Profes- 

1 This letter is taken from a first copy made by Mr. Gilmer. Through 
the kindness of Mr. Key's eldest daughter I was enabled to compare it with 
the final letter that was sent. The formal variations were considerable; 
but as the matter was practically the same, the differences are not noted. 
I wrote to George Long, Esquire, of Lincoln's Inn, to discover whether 
his father had left any papers or memoranda that bore upon the present 
study ; but that gentleman was unable to furnish me with any data. In his 
courtesy, however, he communicated with Mr. Key's daughter, who was 
considerate enough to make the copy alluded to, for which I desire publicly 
to return my thanks. She recollects having heard her father speak of Gil- 
mer in very pleasant terms. It will interest American readers to know that 
the two friends, Key and Long, whose intimacy began at Cambridge and 
continued through university life of fully fifty years, left families which, 
through intermarriage and friendship, seem likely to perpetuate the same 
pleasant relationship. 



267] English Culture in Virginia. 79 

sor (afterwards Sir John) Leslie to Gilmer, at the Gibbs 
Hotel. Mr. Jefferson had thought that the great scientist, 
now Playfair's successor in the chair of natural philosophy, 
would be inimical to his pet institution. I suppose this was 
due to some misunderstanding that must have arisen when 
Leslie was in Virginia (1788-9) teaching in the Randolph 
family. It will be seen later that Mr. Jefferson labored under 
a misapprehension. 

Queen Street, Sunday Evening. 
Dear Sir, 

I stated to you that it appeared to me that even the tempo- 
rary superintendence of a person of name from Europe might 
contribute to give eclat and consistency to your infant univer- 
sity. On reflecting since on this matter, I feel not averse, 
under certain circumstances, to offer my own services. I am 
prompted to engage in such a scheme partly from a wish to 
revisit some old friends, and partly from an ardent desire to 
promote the interests of learning and liberality. I could con- 
sent to leave Edinburgh for half a year. I could sail from 
Liverpool by the middle of April, visit the colleges in the 
New England States, New York and Philadelphia, spend 
a month or six weeks at Charlottesville. I should then 
bestow my whole thoughts in digesting the best plans of edu- 
cation, &c, give all the preliminary lectures in Mathematics, 
Natural Philosophy, and Chemistry, and besides, go through 
a course comprising all my original views and discoveries in 
Meteorology, Heat, and Electricity. Having put the great 
machine in motion, I should then take my leave to visit other 
parts of the Continent. But I should continue to exercise a 
parental care over the fortunes of our University, and urge 
forward the business by my correspondence, &c. To make 
such a sacrifice as this, however, I should expect a donation of 
at least one thousand pounds, which would include all my 
expenses on the voyage, &c. If you should think well of 
this proposition, you may consult your constituents. Were it 



80 English Culture in Virginia. [268 

acceded to, I should probably in the autumn visit both France 
and Germany, with the view of procuring aid and instruments 
to further our plans. But at all events, I trust you will 
not ment[ion] this c[onfi]dential communication w[hich] I 
send you on the spur of the moment. Whatever may be 
the decision, I shall at all times be ready to give you my 
sincere and impartial advice. 

I ever am, Dear Sir, 

Most truly yours, 

John Leslie. 

On the 7th of August, Gilmer wrote a letter to his friend, 
Chapman Johnson, a well-known lawyer in Richmond, and 
one of the Board of Visitors ; but for some reason the letter 
was not sent. It touches on several interesting matters, and is 
therefore given here : 

Edinburgh, 7 August, 1825. 
Dear Johnson, 

I satisfied myself at the English Universities that it was 
idle to seek at either a professor in natural philosophy. They 
have no general lecturer on this important branch ; but each 
college (where it is taught at all) has its own professor : none of 
them, I believe, equal to our old master, the bishop [Bishop 
Madison]. This department T found far more successfully cul- 
tivated in Scotland, and I looked to it or London as our only 
chance. Here I could learn of but one individual eminently 
qualified, and he being already engaged in a good business, 
I had no great hope of seducing him from Edinburgh. 
I have been a fortnight making inquiries and besetting him ; 
he is to give a final answer this evening, [He did not for 
nearly a week] but I am impatient to be off to London, where 
as from a central point I can carry on two or three nego- 
tiations at once. If Buchanan (that is his name) accept my 
offer, I shall be well pleased. He is both practical and 
theoretical. He has written some learned articles in the 



269] English Culture in Virginia. 81 

supplement to the Encyclopedia Britannica, and is a matter- 
of-fact man, and equally qualified both for natural philos- 
ophy, properly [speaking], and for chemistry. And I now 
know by the fullest inquiry that what I told you is true — 
chemistry must be attached to natural philosophy, and 
astronomy to mathematics. You will hardly in all Europe 
find a good naturalist deep in chemistry, while every nat- 
ural philosopher is pretty well acquainted with chemistry ; 
and few natural philosophers are deep in astronomy, while 
almost every mathematician is. So whether Buchanan and 
I agree or not, I have nearly given up the hope of uniting 
natural history and chemistry. [He then alludes to Leslie 
and Mr. Jefferson's fear that he would be hostile — accident 
had thrown them together, and they had become friends — 
Leslie having done more for him than anyone except Dr. 
Parr. He then cites Leslie's offer, and adds — ] It seems to 
me, that as Leslie's name would give us immense renown, we 
should do a good deal to procure it. We might agree to give 
him so much and take the fees to ourselves, so as to get him 
there probably for less money than we will give another. The 
trustees should think of this, and if you come to any conclu- 
sion as to his offer, or as to getting him with us permanently, 
Mr. Jefferson may write to him, as if in a highly confidential 
manner. I know his letter will, at any rate, be well received, 
which Mr. J. does not believe. 1 

I think it a great pity your agent is so fettered by instruc- 
tions. Your short vacation (6 weeks) has done immense mis- 
chief, and it cannot last a year. Think of 200 boys festering 
in one of those little rooms in August or July : the very idea 
is suffocating. You should have begun with three months, 
and gradually shortened it to two. If Buchanan and I disa- 
gree, it will be on this point only. 

1 Whether Leslie's offer was considered, or whether he withdrew it, I do 
not know. Gilmer's subsequent success would have ended the negotiation 
at any rate, had it been started ; but the fact that Leslie made such an offer 
is surprising. 



82 English Culture in Virginia. [270 

It is time I should say something of the honor you designed 
me. Long as I have delayed it, I yet want the materials for 
a final judgment, but think it proper to say that considering 
the immense labors thrown on me, the very short vacation and 
my prospects at the bar, a salary of $2,000 is the least I could 
accept. With that beginning in October to enable me to pre- 
pare my course in the winter, I believe I should accept it. 
But not knowing that you will grant it on these terms, I think 
it best to give you notice, that you may look elsewhere in 
time. If you would make me President or something, with 
the privilege of residing anywhere within 3 miles of the Ro- 
tunda, it would be a great inducement. But to put me down 
in one of those pavilions is to serve me as an apothecary 
would a lizard or beetle in a phial of whiskey, set in a window 
and corked tight. I could not for $1,500 endure this, even if 
I had no labor. 

I have one of the finest men I saw at Cambridge in my eye 
for mathematics. I find him well disposed to us. We are to 
go into details when I return to London. 

We shall find that the difficulties of combination here 
alluded to were finally overcome, at least in the main. Of the 
correspondence between Gilmer and George Buchanan, only 
two short notes from the latter have been preserved, one of 
August 12th, the other of prior but uncertain date. From 
the second we learn that Buchanan wished a long vacation, 
that he might revisit Great Britain at least every other year ; 
from that of August 12th we learn that he called upon Gil- 
mer in Glasgow, but found him gone on an excursion. In 
this note the situation of professor of natural philosophy was 
politely declined. Buchanan (1790?-1852), we cannot doubt, 
had been recommended by Leslie, whose favorite pupil he 
was. He had already, at the time Gilmer's offer was made, 
won a considerable local reputation as a civil engineer, and 
had also delivered lectures (1822) in Edinburgh on mechanical 
philosophy. His scientific reports on various government 



271] English Culture in Virginia. 83 

enterprises and his success as an engineer, gave hirn sub- 
sequently a wide reputation — which was increased, among 
special students, by several well executed scientific treatises. 

I must now go backwards, to give a letter written to Peachy 
Gilmer on the 31st of July, which, though mainly personal, 
seems worthy of presentation : 

Edinburgh, 31s£ July, 1824. 
My dear Brother, 

I have now been five days in the Metropolis of Scotland, 
one of the most beautiful cities of Europe, both in its natural 

scenery and admirable buildings, As I entered the 

town, and often since, I have had strange and melancholy 
reveries ; here fifty years ago, our father was at College, sport- 
ing with more than the usual gaiety of youth, here thirty-four 
years ago, our poor brother Walker caught his death like my 
ever beloved Harmer, by an assiduity, which there was no 
kind friend to temper — both their lives might have been saved, 
had those about them in their studies, possessed a spark of 
feeling or judgment — -two lines in the poem which took the 
prize at Cambridge (which I heard recited) were equally 
applicable to H. 

" In learning's pure embrace he sank to rest 
Like a tired child, upon its mother's breast." 1 

But these reflections draw tears to my eyes for the millionth 
time, and each I resolve shall be the last, for they are vain. — 



1 Winthrop Mackworth Praed (1802-1839) of Trinity gained the Chan- 
cellor's medal in 1S23 by his "Australasia," and in 1S24 by his "Athens." 
In the latter poem the lines quoted occur. They commemorate the death 
of John Tweddel, a brilliant young Cantab, who died at Athens in 1799. 
It is sad to think that an early death cut off both the poet and his first 
American admirer from brilliant careers both in literature and in politics; 
and it is interesting to reflect that this is the first quotation from Praed that 
found its way to America — the country which had the honor of putting 
forth the first collection of his poems. 



84 English Culture in Virginia. [272 

they no more than " honor's voice " can " provoke the silent 
dust," or than " flattery soothe the dull, cold ear of death " 
— when a few more heart strings are cut, I shall seem to belong 
rather to the next world than to this, and without the saintlike 
purity of either of our brothers I shall be glad to lay my head 
beside theirs — I write all this in no bitterness of heart nor in 
any desponding mood, the place, the occasion and addressing 
you from Edinburgh all conspire to elicit fruitless sighs. 

My visit has so far been very pleasant, I told you what a 
delightful time I had at Cambridge. I have since spent two 
days with the celebrated Dr. Parr, the greatest scholar, now 
in existence. He is old, decrepid, and with the manners of a 
pedagogue, but withal, exceedingly agreeable. He is a decided 
and warm champion of our country, took great interest in my 
mission, and has already been of service in furnishing me a 
catalogue of books. He spoke right out and said several very 
flattering things to me, which it is not worth while to repeat 
even to you. He went with me to Guy's Cliff (one of the 
most romantic establishments in G. B.) and to Kenilworth, 
where we dined with a friend of his. 

The people of Edinburgh are very hospitable and kind, 
but less like ourselves, than the Cambridge lads. Here every 
man seems engaged in letters or science. I breakfasted with 
the famous professor Leslie, and he was surrounded by his 
meteorological machines. 

Mr. Jefferson imagined he would be hostile to us. I have 
turned him to good account, by having heard something (it 

was very little) of his discoveries Jeffrey is out of 

town, but I shall see him. Mr. Murray a distinguished advo- 
cate, connected with the great Lord Mansfield, has shown me 
many civilities and I this morning received a 'written invita- 
tion to visit Lord Forbes, 1 which I shall not have time to do. 



1 Lord Forbes (1765-1843) — the seventeenth of the title and Premier 
Baron of Scotland — had been somewhat distinguished as a soldier in his early 
life. See a notice of him in the Gentleman's Magazine for 1843 (Part I). 



273] English Culture in Virginia. 85 

He dined with us at Murray's yesterday, and is genteel and 
well disposed towards our country. I go from this place to 
London, and shall endeavour as soon as I can to draw matters 
to a close & return. I shall be able to turn the acquaintances 
I have made here to good account to our country. Even to 
procure a good library and apparatus is a great matter, for we 
then have at least the materials for working which we now 
want. They seem astonished to find I have been in G. B. 
only 6 or 7 weeks, and speak English quite as well as they, 
to say the least. I believe many of them on both sides the 
Tweed would give a good deal for my accent and articulation, 
which, I assure you, are nothing improved by this raw climate, 
which makes every one hoarse ; they are generally less easy 
and fluent in conversation than we 

Gilmer did see Jeffrey — for we have a note from the latter 
making proposals for a trip to Inverary and telling Gilmer 
to meet him in Glasgow. Putting this fact with the state- 
ment made in Buchanan's note, we are warranted in believing 
that the pleasant excursion was made. Besides we have a 
statement in one of the numerous letters before us that Mrs. 
Jeffrey wrote to her father in New York that Gilmer was 
the most popular and attractive American that had ever been 
seen in Edinburgh. I mentioned many pages back that 
Jeffrey was one of Ogilvie's auditors in New York ; he was 
there in pursuit of this very Mrs. Jeffrey — then a Miss 
Wilkes — related, as De Quincey somewhere shows, to the 
celebrated Wilkes. 

Although Gilmer does not seem to have visited Lord 
Forbes that gentleman was kind enough to send him three 
letters of introduction to literary friends in Dublin — whither 
Gilmer proposed to go if he did not succeed in Great Britain. 
His lordship's hand is not the best and I shall not risk pro- 
nouncing who his distinguished friends were. 

Among the many invitations received by Gilmer while in 
Edinburgh was one from a Mr. Horner whom I take to have 



86 English Culture in Virginia. [274 

been Leonard Horner the brother and biographer of Francis 
Horner — the political economist and joint founder of the 
Edinburgh Review. If one only knew a few more facts 
quite a pretty picture might be drawn of a pleasant evening 
spent by this clever young stranger in the presence of one 
of the beauties of Great Britain. But I do not know whether 
Gilmer accepted the invitation or whether Leonard Horner 
gave it or whether Mr. Horner was then married. All that I 
do know is that whenever he got Miss Lloyd 1 to marry him, 
he got a beautiful woman. 

I now give the next letter written to Mr. Jefferson, in 
which the professorship of law is finally declined. 

Edinburgh, Aug. 13th, 1884. 
Dear Sir. 

It is now more than a fortnight since I arrived at the 
Ancient Capitol of Scotland. The first four or five days were 
spenl in making inquiries for persons fit for any of our pur- 
poses, but especially for anatomy, natural history, and natural 
Philosophy ; for I had well satisfied myself in England that 
we could not except by chance, procure either of the latter there. 
In all Scotland, from all the men of letters or science at 
Edinburgh, I could hear of but two, fit for any department, at 
all likely to accept our proposals. These were Mr. Buchanan 
for natural philosophy, & Dr. Craigie 2 for anatomy &c. I 



■See Mrs. Gordon's "Christopher North," page 25. Leonard Horner 
(1785-1864) was a F. K. S. and a geologist of some note. He was promi- 
nent in promoting the scheme for a university in London, and in 1827 was 
made Warden of the new institution. 

2 David Craigie, M. D. (1793-1866) was a graduate of the University of 
Edinburgli and (1832) fellow of the Edinburgh College of Physicians. He 
had not a large practice, nor was he famous as a teacher, but his "Elements 
of General and Pathological Anatomy" (1828) is said to have shown great 
reading and to be still valuable. He was owner and editor of the Edin- 
burgh Medical and Surgical Journal. His health was continuously failing 
for many years. 



275] English Culture in Virginia. 87 

made to them both, and every where that I went, the most 
favourable representations I could with truth, of our Uni- 
versity. They required time to consider of our offer. — and 
to day I have received the answers of both. They decline to 
accept it. You would be less astonished at this, if you knew 
what a change had taken place since you were in Europe. 
The professorships have become lucrative, beyond every thing. 
Even the Greek professor at Glasgow, Leslie tells me, receives 
1500 guineas a year. Some of the lecturers here, receive 
above £4000 sterling. Besides this we have united branches 
which seem never to be combined in the same person in 

Europe I have moreover well satisfied myself, 

that taking all the departments of natural history, we shall 
at Philadelphia, New York &c procure persons more fit for 
our purpose than any where in G. B. The same may be said 
of Anatomy &c. I shall however set out for London to mor- 
row, and try what can be done there by corresponding with 
the places I have visited. A mathematician and professor 
of ancient Languages we should, if possible, find in Europe, 
for they I am sure will be better than our own. Even here 
the difficulty is greater than you can conceive. Proficiency 
in Latin & Greek are still the sure passports to preferment 
both in Church' & State ; nor is the supply of men of the first 
eminence, or such as we must have, at all in proportion to the 
demand. When I came I thought it the easiest place to fill ; 
I assure you it is far the most difficult. This Dr. Parr told 
me, but I thought he exaggerated the obstacles. I now 
believe he has not. You apprehended Leslie would be at 
best indifferent to us. He has however taken more interest 
in our success, than any one I have seen and been of more 
service to me. [Here he mentions Leslie's offer.] 

I think it well to mention this, for the visitors may make 
something of it, and I believe if you were once to get him 
there, it would not be difficult to keep him. 

It is time I should say something of the honor the visitors 



88 English Culture in Virginia. [276 

have done me, though I have no more materials for deciding 
now, than when I left you. I make my decision, only to pre- 
vent delay in your looking elsewhere. I find it so doubtful, 
whether we can procure such persons as I should choose to be 
associated with ; and thinking myself bound to make my 
election as early as possible, that I must say as the case now 
stands, T cannot accept the honor which has been conferred 
upon me, in a manner the most flattering, accompanied by a 
great mark of confidence in appointing me this most im- 
portant mission. I shall discharge my undertaking to you 
and my duty to my country, perilous as it is, to satisfy my 
own conscience. I will, if it be possible in Europe, procure 
fit men ; but I will rather return home, mortifying as it 
would be, without a single professor, than with mere impost- 
ors. As at present advised, I cannot say positively, that 
I may not be condemned to the humiliation of going back 
with Dr. Blaetterman only. All this is very discouraging to 
you, but I present to you the exact case, without any 
diplomacy to recommend myself or deceive you and my em- 
ployers. Should they find fault with the address of their 
agent, they shall at least never condemn his honesty, or doubt 
his fidelity. My address (such as I possess) I shall reserve 
for my negotiations here. 

This condition of affairs, requires all and much more than 
my fortitude — it mars all the pleasures of visiting Great Bri- 
tain, tho' in my letters generally I preserve the appearance 
of good spirits and success, because I always look to the 
Legislature — I shall be happy if we can succeed and miser- 
able to return without fulfilling all that you desired. 

P. S. I assure you, Leslie will receive any communication 
from you as an honor, he is by no means hostile to Virginia. 
He speaks often of Col. R[andolph] with the utmost interest. 

Having thus spent three pleasant weeks in Edinburgh, 
where he received attention from the distinguished men 
already named, as well as from Professor Jameson, the great 



277] English Culture in J^rginia. 89 

geologist, Gilmer seems to have gone straight to London, 
where we find him on the 21st of August beginning a cor- 
respondence destined to be of great service to the University. 
Mr. Key, with whom Gilmer seems to have been staying, had 
recommended as classical professor a young college mate 
of his own — Mr. George Long. This gentleman was a year 
younger than Key, haviug been born in 1800. He was a fel- 
low of Trinity, and already favorably known. I present 
a synopsis of Gilmer's letter to him as a specimen of the 
offer which the agent was authorized to make. , He states 
that his powers are absolute, and that any engagement made 
with him would be binding without further ratification. 
Long is to have (1) a commodious house, garden, &c, en- 
tirely to himself, free of rent, (2) a salary of $1,500 and 
" tuition fees of from $50 to $25 from each pupil, accord- 
ing to the number of professors he attends." He can be 
removed only by the concurrent votes of five out of seven 
of the board of visitors. He is to be allowed to return to 
Cambridge in July, 1825, a concession necessary to his 
holding his fellowship. He is not to teach a grammar 
school, but advanced classes — Hebrew being included in his 
professorship, but with little chance of being required. The 
professors must be ready to sail by November. The letter 
concludes by explaining the site of the University, and is, as 
a whole, courteous and businesslike. 1 On the same day an 
almost exact counterpart of this letter was sent to the Rev. 
Henry Drury, assistant master of Harrow, who had beeD 
recommended by Dr. Parr, himself long connected with Har- 
row, as a fit person to advise in the matter of the classical 
professorship. 

On the 24th of August, Gilmer wrote to Leslie an important 
letter of which I give the substance. Professor Jamesou had 
advised that the object of the mission should be published in 
the leading newspapers. Gilmer thought that might do in 

'It is given in Dr. Adams' monograph on Thomas Jefl'erson, page 114. 

7 



90 English Culture in Virginia. [278 

Scotland, but, remembering Brougham's admonitions, did not 
feel certain that it would work well in England, and so he 
felt compelled to decline Professor Jameson's offer to write up 
the matter. Jameson had also recommended Dr. Knox of 
Edinburgh for the anatomical chair; and as Gilmer did not 
know the latter's address, he requests Jameson to sound him 
on the subject. Leslie seems to have seconded Brougham's 
recommendation of Ivory, but Gilmer has not been able to 
find him and thinks he will secure Key's services instead. 
The letter closes by making a suggestion to Leslie about a 
physical experiment the latter had shown him in Edinburgh. 
On the same day this letter was written, Mr. Long in 
Liverpool was writing a reply to Gilmer's offer of the 21st 
instant. His manly letter is given at length : — 

Liverpool, August 24. 

The subject of your letter renders an apology for writing 
to me quite unnecessary ; I am pleased with the plain & open 
manner in which you express yourself and encouraged by this 
I shall freely state to you all my thoughts on the subject, and 
make such enquiries as the case seems to me to admit. The 
nature of the powers with which you are vested gives me full 
confidence in your proposals, and from Mr. Key's letter I am 
led to expect that all information you give me will bear the 
same marks as the communication I have already received. 
The peculiar circumstances of my situation induce me to throw 
off all reserve, and to trouble you with more words than 
otherwise would be necessary. About two years since I lost 
my remaining parent, a mother whose care and attention 
amply compensated for the loss of a father & no inconsider- 
able property in the West India Islands. By this unfortunate 
occurrence I have the guardianship of a younger brother, and 
two younger sisters thrown upon me — with numerous diffi- 
culties, which it is useless to mention because no body but my- 
self can properly judge of them, — and with an income for their 



279] English Culture in Virginia. 91 

support which is rapidly diminishing in value. I have for 
some time past been directing my attention to the study of the 
law with the hopes of improving my fortune, and the ambition, 
which I hope is a laudable one, of rising in my profession. 
In truth the latter is almost my only motive for entering into 
the profession, as I am well acquainted with the insupportable 
tedium & vexation of the practical part. But the obstacles in 
my way, tho I should consider them trifling if I were solely 
concerned for myself, become formidable when I reflect on the 
situation of my family. I wish then to know if that part of 
America would aiford an asylum for a family that has been 
accustomed to live in a respectable manner, and an opportunity 
for laying out a little property to advantage. 

From your account of that part of Virginia, and from what 
I have learned from books and other sources of information, 
I conclude that new comers are not liable to be carried off by 
any dangerous epidemic disorder. 

The salary attached to the professorship seems adequate .... 
but I wish to know what proportion it bears to the expense of 
living — many of the common articles of food I can imagine 
to be as cheap as in England — but other articles such as 
wearing apparel, furniture & I should conceive to be dearer 
than they are here. Your information on this subject will 
supply the defects in mine. 

Is the University placed on such a footing as to ensure a 
permanent and durable existence, or is the scheme so far an 
experiment that there is a possibility of its failing? 

Is there any probability of the first Professor being enabled 
to double the 1500 dollars, when the University is fairly set at 
work, by his tuition fees ? You will perhaps be surprised at 
this question ; I am not at all mercenary or addicted to the 
love of money — I have reasons for asking which I could 
better explain in a personal interview. 

Is there in the county of Albemarle, or town of Charlottes- 
ville, tolerably agreeable society, such as would in some degree 
compensate for almost the only comfort an Englishman would 
hesitate [to] leave behind him ? 



92 English Culture in Virginia. [280 

What vacations would the Professor have — and at what 
seasons of the year — of what nature, with respect to the time 
to be left for literary pursuits, aud the studies connected with 
his profession, by which as much might be eifected as by the 
employment more immediately attached to the situation ? 

"W'itli respect to my coming to England in 1825, that would 
be absolutely necessary. Unless I take the degree of Master 
of Arts next July, I forfeit my Fellowship which is at present 
the only means of subsistence I have, except the occupation in 
which I am at present engaged of taking private pupils. 
Should the expectation that I am induced to form be realized, 
my Fellowship of course would be a small consideration : but 
as I just observed the settlement of my affairs here would 
render my presence necessary in 1825. 

The Professors, you tell me, can only be removed by the 
concurring voice of 5 out of the 7 directors: I presume that 
inability to perform the duties of the office, or misconduct 
would be the only points on which such a removal would be 
attempted. 

J have no attachment to England as a country : it is a 
delightful place for a man of rank and property to live in, 
but I was not born in that enviable station ... If com- 
fortably settled therefore in America I should never wish to 
leave it. 

I wish to know what may be the expenses of the voyage & 
if they are to be defrayed by the persons engaged — also what 
kind of an outfit would be necessary, I mean merely for a 
person's own convenience. 

Mr. Key knows nothing of me but from college acquain- 
tance : he therefore could not know that he was directing you 
to a person who would raise so many difficulties, and make so 
many enquiries some of which you may judge impertinent. 
For the last 6 years I have struggled with pecuniary diffi- 
culties, & I am not yet quite free from them : I have thus 
learned at an early age to calculate expenses, & consider 
probabilities : when I know the whole of a case, I can come 
to a determination & abide by it. 



281] English Culture in Virginia. 93 

If you will favor me with an answer as soon as you find it 
convenient, I shall consider it a great favor — I must again 
apologize for the freedom with which I have expressed myself: 
when I have received your letter, I will inform you of my 
determination. 

I will thank you to inform Mr. Key that he will receive a 
letter from me by the next post after that which brings yours. 

I remain with the greatest respect 

Yours G. Long. 

Please to direct " George Long, No. 1 King St., Soho, 
Liverpool. 

In the meantime Gilmer, on the advice of Dr. Parr, had 
written on the subject of the classical professorship to Samuel 
Butler (1774-1839), the well-known head master of Shrews- 
bury school. Dr. Butler was one of the leading English edu- 
cators, and a great friend of Dr. Parr's, whose funeral sermon 
he preached. After a brilliant career at Cambridge, where he 
was elected Craven scholar over Coleridge, he had taken 
charge of the Shrewsbury school in 1798, and made it one of 
the best in the country. He was a noted classical scholar, and 
was at this very time finishing his edition of Aeschylus. He 
was subsequently made Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry. 

Dr. Butler answered Gilmer on the 26th of August, and 
recommended in high terms a clergyman whose name he did 
not give. He also assured Gilmer that he would be glad to 
show him the school l and give him further information, adding 
that although he could not offer him a bed, he should be 
happy to see him at breakfast, dinner, and supper. 



1 A glance through the Kev. J. Pyeroft's " Oxford Memories " will show 
how high the Shrewsbury boys stood iu the classics. In athletics they were 
backward ; for it was to them that Eton sent the famous message when 
challenged for a cricket (or football) match : " Harrow we know, and 
Winchester we know, but who are ye?" 



94 English Culture in Virginia. [282 

On the next day (the 27th) Gilmer wrote two letters, one to 
Mr. Long, the other to Mr. Jefferson. That to Long 
answered his queries seriatim, and, as its writer observed, dealt 
with him not as a merchant, but rather as a scholar. He was 
to teach Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Rhetoric, and Belles- Lettres ; 
but little stress was to be laid on the three last. 

The letter to Jefferson runs as follows : 

London, 27th Aug., 1824. 
Dear Sir, 

My last letter from Edinburgh gave so gloomy an account 
of our prospects, that I hasten to relieve the picture. When 
I saw needy young men living miserably up 10 or 12 stories 
in the wretched climate of Edinburgh, reluctant to join us, I 
did not know where we could expect to raise recruits. While 
at Cambridge I became acquainted in Trinity College with an 
intelligent and fine young man, distinguished even at Cam- 
bridge for his mathamatical genius and attainments, and M. 
A. of that University. He is the son of an eminent phy- 
sician of London, and I hardly hoped we should induce him 
to go with us. I have, however, done so, and am delighted 
to find him a great enthusiast for the United States, and 
exactly fitted to our purposes in every respect. Securing him 
is a great matter, for he has a high character with the young 
men who were with him at Cambridge, and he will assist in 
procuring others. Already he has suggested the most fit 
person for the classics, and I am enquiring of others about 
him. The departments of anatomy, natural history and nat- 
ural philosophy will then only remain. I have had more 
persons recommended for anatomy than for any other place, 
but immediately they find they will not be allowed to practice 
medicine, &c, abroad, they decline proceeding further. That 
I fear will prove an insurmountable obstacle to us in this 
department. In the other two, I shall have great diffi- 
culties, and far from being harassed by applications, I 
cannot hear of any one at all likely to answer our purpose. 



283] English Culture in Virginia. 95 

With a good classic, an able master of experimental science, 
and Key for our mathematician, we shall be strong whatever 
the rest may be. 

The books and apparatus now occupy me very much — at 
the same time, I am corresponding with all parts of the 
kingdom, about professors. On returning to London, I re- 
ceived two letters from my venerable friend Dr. Parr, and 
another from his grand-son (who will be his executor) propos- 
ing to sell us the Doctor's Library entire at his death. It is 
a rich and rare and most valuable collection of the classics. 
But I wrote to them that the amount would be greater 
than I could apply to this single department. I promised 
however to suggest it to the Visitors, and if they please 

they can enter into correspondence on the subject 

It would give some eclat perhaps to our Institution to'have 
the Doctor's Library. I am not without hope of opening 
the campaign in February with some splendors. I know the 
importance of complete success with the next legislature 
and shall consider that in every thing I do. 

I have been seeking Ivory all over London, but such 
is the state of science among alderman and " freemen," that 
no one can tell me where he is or ever even heard of him, and 
in Edinburgh, ' I found a splendid monument to Lord 
Melville and none to Napier or Burns. In Westminster 
Abbey, there is none to Bacon or Blake, but a great many 
to state and ecclesiastical impostors. 

I shall write more at length as soon as I have done 
more. I wrote this only to allay your apprehensions ex- 
cited by my last. 

I have seen Major Cartwright, who is old and infirm. 
Dugald Stewart has lost the musick of his eloquent tongue 
by paralysis j he lives near Linlithgow about 20 miles from 
Edinburgh, is averse to company, and I therefore enclosed 
your letter with a card, expressing my regret that the state 
of his health should deprive me of the honor of his ac- 
quaintance. 



96 English Culture in Virginia. [284 

Dr. Parr was delighted with your letter and will no 
doubt give me one for you, &c. 

The visit to Major Cartwright brought Gilmer an invita- 
tion to dinner which bears the date of August 30th. Some 
description of this remarkable character might not be out of 
place, as the name of his brother, the inventor, is much more 
familiar to the majority of readers than his own. But space 
is wanting, and after all he intended far more good than he 
accomplished. Nevertheless as naval officer, losing the chance 
of promotion by his sympathy with America, as an agitator 
for the reform of parliament, as a colleague of Clarkson's, as 
a distinguished agriculturist, and as a sympathizer with the 
Spanish patriots, he deserves to be remembered, and was, as 
Mr. Jefferson said, a most worthy character for Gilmer 
to meet. Although the veteran (1740-1824) was within 
a month of his death, he busied himself greatly in behalf of 
Gilmer's mission. He got Mr. Harris, the former secretary to 
the Royal Institution, to make out a list of such editions as 
should be chosen for the University library, and he wrote to 
Bentham for a catalogue of the latter's works and bespoke his 
interest in Gilmer. Whether the philosopher knew that the 
young American had four years ago confuted him, is a matter 
of uncertainty — certain it is, however, that the desired cata- 
logue was forthcoming. The Major also sent Gilmer a copy 
of his " English Constitution Produced and Illustrated," 
which, if it be as dry, as it is represented to be, I hope 
the young man did not feel bound to read. 

In the meantime Gilmer had been introduced to a person 
destined to be of the greatest assistance to him. This was 
no other than Dr. George Birkbeck (1776-1841), the cel- 
ebrated founder of the Glasgow Mechanics' Institute, said 
to have been the first of its kind in the world. Dr. Birk- 
beck's interest in popular education began in 1800, when 
he delivered a course of lectures to workingmen in Glas- 
gow. He had left Glasgow for Loudon in 1804, and had 



285] English Culture in Virginia. 97 

practised medicine for many years ; but he had taken up the 
cause of education again, and was in this very year (1824) 
elected the first president of the London Mechanics' Institute, 
afterwards called in his honor the Birkbeck Institute. He 
was one of the founders of the University of London, — a 
fact which we shall have occasion to remember. 

Dr. Birkbeck's first letter to Gilmer was dated the 29th of 
August, and addressed to him at 3, Warwick St., Charing 
Cross. In it attention was drawn to a gentleman destined to 
form the third member of the new faculty — Dr. Robley Dun- 
glison, a prominent physician of Scotch extraction, residing 
in London. Dr. Dunglison, then about 26 years of age, was 
already favorably known as a medical writer, a reputation 
which, it is almost needless to say, was widely extended 
after he settled in this country. Gilmer was not long in fol- 
lowing up Dr. Birkbeck's suggestion ; for on September 5th 
Dr. Dunglison finally accepted the anatomical professorship. 

The first of September brought a note from Major Cart- 
wright, together with four of his political tracts which, the 
writer declared, were with no small satisfaction put into the 
hands of a gentleman then occupied in collecting materials for 
perpetuating and adorning Republican Freedom. From the 
same note we see that Gilmer was to dine with him on the 
morrow. I may remark that Mr. Jefferson's letter to Cart- 
wright was delivered by Gilmer, and is to be found in the 
second volume of Francis Dorothy Cartwright's life of her 
uncle (London, 1826, page 265). This letter is very interest- 
ing, and contains a complimentary notice of Gilmer. 

On the 2nd of September the assistant master of Harrow 
(Rev. Henry Drury) answered Gilmer's letter of August 21st 
in a very formal note. He stated that he had been in the 
south of France, hence his delay, and that he had no one as 
yet to propose. He promised, however, to write to Dr. Parr, 
and hoped to answer more satisfactorily in a few days. He 
also mentioned that a similar application had been made to 
him some years ago concerning Boston — by Mr. Rufus King, 



98 English Culture in Virginia. [286 

whose sons were his pupils. At that time he had had no one 
in view. 

On the same day Mr. Long wrote from Liverpool, grate- 
fully accepting Gilmer's offer. He had conversed with Adam 
Hodgson, a Liverpool merchant, who had written some let- 
ters on America, and his report of Charlottesville had settled 
the matter. Like all of Long's letters, this one was straight- 
forward and manly. 

Leslie also wrote on the 2nd of September regretting that 
no public announcement of the mission had been made and 
throwing a slight damper upon the whole scheme. He prom- 
ised to speak to Dr. Knox 1 and seemed to favor him. Gilmer's 
suggestion as to the experiment was received with some little 
contempt, but the philosopher promised to do his best in help- 
ing him to get good instruments. He cited the case of the 
University of Christiania which, in so poor a country as Nor- 
way, "had £1000 at first furnished for instruments and £200 
j>er annum since." 

It lias already been mentioned that on September 5th Dr. 
Dunglison definitely accepted. He desired to add chemistry 
to his chair of anatomy, but this request was afterwards 
refused. On the 6th Gilmer answered Long's letter of accept- 



1 Dr. Robert Knox, then about 35 years old, was one of the best known 
of the Edinburgh physicians and owned one of the finest private anatomi- 
cal collections in Europe. lie did not come to America ; but it would have 
been better for him if he had. Readers of the Nodes AmbrosiaiuE will 
surely remember the account of the famous Burke and Hare murder trial 
given in the number for March, 1829. Burke and Hare had committed 
several shocking murders in 1828, for the sole purpose of furnishing this 
Dr. Knox with subjects. It was claimed that the bodies were brought to 
Knox in such a fresh condition that he must have had suspicions of foul 
play. Burke was hanged, Hare having turned state's evidence. The 
excitement was immense, Knox's house was sacked by the mob and at 
Burke's execution thousands were heard crying: "Where are Knox and 
Hare?" Knox betook himself to London where he became an itinerant 
lecturer on ethnology. See Dr. McKenzie's edition of the Nodes, III, 239, 
&c. (New York, 1875). 



287] English Culture in Virginia. 99 

ance and assured him that the University would not be sectarian 
— a thing which Long had feared. On the day before (the 
5th) which was Sunday, Gilmer had been to Woolwich to see 
Peter Barlow, the celebrated professor at the Royal Military 
Academy ; but not finding him returned at once to London. 

On the 7th Barlow wrote regretting that he had missed his 
visit and answering a letter which Gilmer had left. This 
letter concerned one of the professorships which had been very 
difficult to fill — that of natural philosophy. Mr. Barlow was 
certainly the person to apply to. Born in 1776 of obscure 
parents, he had worked his way through many difficulties and 
was now among the foremost scientists of his day. His valu- 
able tables, his essay on the strength of materials, and his 
magnetical discoveries had gained him great applause and con- 
siderable emoluments. He had just (1823) been elected a 
fellow of the Royal Society and was about to get the Copley 
medal (1825) for his magnetic discoveries. From 1827 he 
was destined to do valuable work as an optician and the Bar- 
low lens has perpetuated his name. He died in 1862 having 
long since resigned his professorship. In the present letter 
Barlow proposed to write to a gentleman, whose name he 
withheld, and sound him on the subject of the required pro- 
fessorship. His nominee was stated to be the son of a late 
distinguished mathematical professor known both in England 
and America. This seems to point to Charles Bonnycastle, 
son of John Bonnycastle, the great mathematical professor at 
Woolwich, whose books were certainly used at that time in 
America, and who had been dead about three years. But 
Barlow's note of September 22nd shows that he had been 
corresponding with Mr. George Harvey, of Plymouth, about 
the same place. The only explanation is that Professor Bar- 
low found that Mr. Bonnycastle was abroad on some business 
for the government, and as Gilmer was in a hurry, suggested 
Mr. Harvey as the next best choice. It will be seen that sub- 
sequently Mr. Bonnycastle obtained the place. 

On the 9th, Dr. Butler wrote from Shrewsbury asking 



100 English Culture in Virginia. [288 

many questions in behalf of his clerical friend. Some of these 
questions show considerable acquaintance with matters purely 
secular, but I have not time to dilate upon them. The letter, 
of course, did no good, as Long had already accepted. 

Mr. Drury, of Harrow, also wrote on the same day about 
the same professorship — this time he did recommend some- 
body, viz., his brother 1 — in highly eulogistic terms. To the 
credit of the gentleman it must, however, be said that he did 
not attempt to conceal the fact that his brother was in pecuni- 
ary embarrassments and hence anxious to get away. This 
letter, too, must be added to the futile correspondence of which 
the volumes before me are full. 

In the meantime Dr. Birkbeck had recommended for the 
chair of natural history, the hardest of all to fill, Dr. John 
Harwood, who was a lecturer before the Royal Institution 
and who was then giving a course of lectures before a scientific 
society in Manchester. This recommendation led to a long 
correspondence, the discussion of which I shall put on for a 
time, as it was mixed enough to involve Gilmer in some per- 
plexity and his biographer in more. 

On September 11th Mr. Barlow wrote that he was quite at 
a loss to know why he had not heard from his friend Mr. 
Bonnycastle ('?). He proposed to wait on Gilmer in London, 
on the following Monday (13th), unless that gentleman could 
take a family dinner with him on the next day — Sunday — 
when they would have an opportunity of discussing matters 



1 The Rev. Benjamin Heath Drury (namesake of a former distinguished 
head master), then at Eton, subsequently Vicar of Tugby, Lincolnshire. 
He died Feb. 20, 1835, and was a son of the Rev. Joseph Drury, long head 
master of Harrow and the friend of Lord Byron. 

The Rev. Henry Joseph Thomas Drury (M.A., F.R.S., F.S.A.) had 
been a fellow of King's, Cambridge, was greatly interested in the Roxburgbe 
Club, and possessed one of the finest libraries of the Greek classics in Eng- 
land. This library he was compelled to sell by auction at different times. 
He died March 5th, 1841, in his 63rd year. See Gentleman's Magazine 
for that year, also the chapter on Harrow in T. A. Trollope's " What I 
Remember." 



289] English Culture in Virginia. 101 

more freely than by letter. Whether this invitation was 
accepted does not appear ; but it would seem that some com- 
munication was had which led to the Harvey correspondence. 
Between the eleventh and the eighteenth of September we 
find only one letter received by Gilmer. This was a pleasant 
one from Dugald Stewart, written from his retreat at Kinneil 
House, Linlithgowshire. It is such a perfect specimen of its 
kind that I must make room for it. Stewart, the reader will 
remember, had beeu paralyzed in 1822. His retreat in Lin- 
lithgowshire had been due to the generosity of a friend, and 
he was enjoying an ample pension, which John Wilson, who 
in 1820 had taken Dr. Brown's place in the Edinburgh Uni- 
versity, and hence was Stewart's co-joint professor, was mean 
enough to criticize. The death of his son in 1809 had greatly 
prostrated him, and left him with an- only daughter, in^whose 
handwriting the following letter is : 

Kinneil House by Bo-ness, N. B., Sept. \Ath, 1824. 

Sir, 

It was with much regret I learnt from your note, that you 
had left Scotland without giving me an opportunity of meet- 
ing with you; and altho' I feel very grateful for the kind 
motive which deprived me of that pleasure, I cannot help ex- 
pressing to yourself how very seriously I felt the disappoint- 
ment. My indisposition would indeed have made my share 
of the conversation next to nothing, but I would have 
listened with great eagerness and interest to your information 
about America and in particular about Mr. Jefferson, who I 
am happy to find from his letter has not forgotten me after so 
long and so eventful an interval. I need not add that I 
should have enjoyed a real satisfaction in being personally 
known to a Gentleman of whom Mr. Jeiferson speaks in 
such flattering terms, and to whose sole discernment has been 
committed the important trust of selecting the Professors for 
the new University. 



102 English Culture in Virginia. [290 

I was truly sorry to learn that you had not succeeded in 
finding any recruits at Edinburgh for your new College. The 
field I should have thought, a very ample one, more espec- 
ially in the medical department. I hope you have been more 
fortunate in the English Universities and should be extremely 
happy to hear from you on the subject. It is impossible for 
Mr. Jefferson himself to take a more anxious concern than I 
do, in everything connected with the prosperity of the United 
States, and particularly in every scheme which aims at im- 
proving the System of Education in that part of the world. 
May I beg to be informed about your own plans and when 
you propose to recross the Atlantic. Is there no chance 
of your taking your departure from a Scotch Port? If you 
should, I might still indulge the hope of seeing you here. At 
all events I shall write to Mr. Jefferson. I am sorry to think 
that my good wishes are all I have to offer for his infant es- 
tablishment. 

With much regard I am, dear sir, 

Your most obedient servant, 

Dugald Stewart. 

Frances Walker Gilmer, Esq. 

The interval before mentioned was probably employed by 
Gilmer in visiting distinguished men, among whom was 
Campbell, whom he greatly admired, and certainly in writing 
the following letters — the first to Mr. Jefferson, the second to 
Dabney^Carr : 

London, 15th Sept., 1824. 
My Dear Sir 

I have given you so much bad news, that I determined to 
delay writing a few days that I might communicate something 
more agreeable. 

When I returned from Edinburgh, where my ill success is 
in part to be ascribed (I am well assured) to the ill will of 
some of our eastern Brethren, who had just before me been 



291] English Culture in Virginia. 103 

in Scotland, I determined to remain at London as the most 
convenient point for correspondence. Here assisted by Key 
our mathematician (with whom I am more pleased the more 
I see of him) and several men of character and learning, I 
have been busily engaged since I last wrote. I have had the 
good fortune to enlist with us for the ancient languages a 
learned and highly respectable Cantab., but there have been 
two obstacles that have made me pause long before I conclude 
with him. He has no knowledge of Hebrew, which is to be 
taught at the University. This I easily reconciled to my duty, 
from the absolute necessity of the case. Oriental literature is 
very little esteemed in England, and we might seek a whole 
year and perhaps, not at last find a real Scholar in Latin and 
Greek who understands Hebrew. The other difficulty is more 
serious. Mr. Long, the person I mean, is an alumnus of 
Trinity College, Cambridge, he is entitled to his fellowship 
only on condition of his presenting himself at the meeting in 
the first week in July next. Failure to do this, no matter 
under what circumstances, will deprive him of about £300 
per annum. That would be a great sacrifice. Still he seemed 
to me so decidedly superior to his competitors, who do not lie 
under the incapacity of being of clerical character, that I believe 
I shall not be -faithful to my trust if I do not engage him 
with a reservation of the privilege of being at Cambridge for 
a week only in July ; that is my present impression and very 
strongly fixed, tho' there was another most competent professor 
I could have, but for his being a clergyman. The Professor 
of Anatomy &c is a very intelligent and laborious gentleman, 
a Dr. Dunglison, now of London, and a writer of considerable 
eminence on various medical and anatomical subjects. 

The Professors of natural philosophy and of natural history, 
still remain to be procured Another week will in- 
form me what can be done about the two vacant chairs. 

The library and apparatus have given me great difficulty 
and trouble. I delayed as long as possible speaking for them, 
to have the assistance of the professors. But the time for 



104 English Culture in Virginia. [292 

shipping them now presses so close, I have made out a cata- 
logue of such as we must have, and have ordered the books 
and instruments to be shipped as soon as possible. The present 
aspect of affairs assures me, we shall be able to open the Uni- 
versity on the 1st of February as you desired. The professors 
vary in age from about 26 to 43 or 4. Blaettermann is already 
married and by a very singular coincidence wholly unknown 
to me at the time, each of the others tho' now unmarried, will 
take out a young English wife, 1 tho' if they would take my 
advice they would prefer Virginians notwithstanding. 

Dr. Parr has engaged to marry me in England without his 
fee which here is often considerable. 

Having already declined the honor so flatteringly conferred 
upon me, I no longer feel at liberty to express any wish upon 
the subject. But really every thing promises to make a Pro- 
fessorship at the University one of the most pleasant things 
imaginable. 

I have had no assistance (I wish I could say that were all) 
from a single American, now in England. Leslie in Scotland 
and Dr. Birkbeck (cousin to the Illinois Birkbeck) of London 
have taken most interest in the matter. 

Mackintosh is too lazy for anything and Brougham's letters 
introduced me to eminent men, but they never took the right 
way, or to the right means for us, they talk of plate, furniture 
&c for the pavilions, while we want men for work. 

I have had but a single letter from America — that gave me 
the very agreeable news, that you were all well in Alber- 
niarle, &c. 

London, 19th Sept., 1824. 
My dear friend, 

Many accidents have conspired to delay my embarcation 
for Virginia longer than I wished ; at this season of the year 
no man in England is where he ought to be, except perhaps 

1 It does not appear that either Long or Bonnycastle carried out wives. 



293] English Culture in Virginia. 105 

those of the Fleet & of Newgate. Every little country school 
master, who never saw a town, is gone, as they say, to the 
country, that is to Scotland to shoot grouse, to Doncaster to 
see a race, or to Cheltenham to close himself with that vile 
water. With all these difficulties and not only without assist- 
ance but with numerous enemies to one's success (as every 
Yankee in England is) I have done wonders. I have em- 
ployed four Professors of the most respectable families, of real 
talent, learning &c &c a fellow of Trinity Col. Camb. and 
a M. A. of the same University. Then they are Gentlemen, 
and what should not be overlooked they all go to Virginia 
with the most favourable prepossessions towards our Country. 
If learning does not raise its drooping head it shall not be my 
fault. For myself I shall return to the bar with recruited 
health and redoubled vigour. I shall study and work & 
speak & do something at last that shall redound to the honor 
of my country. My intercourse with professional and Liter- 
ary men here has fired again all my boyish enthusiasm, and I 
pant to be back and at work. The library of the University 
and my intimacy with the professors, will now make even my 
summer holidays a period of study. Virginia must still be 
the great nation; she has genious enough, she wants only 
method in her application. I have seen several of the most 
eminent Scotch & English lawyers, and you may rely upon 
it, our first men have nothing to fear from a comparison with 
the best of them. The only decided advantage any of them 
have over us, is in Brougham. He has more science & accu- 
rate information (not letters mark you) than any one who 
ever figured at the English bar or in Parliament. In the 
mathematics, physical sciences, and political economy, few 
even of their exclusive professors are so learned ; his labor is 
endless, his memory retentive, his faculties quick. I have 
not seen him at full stretch, but I think his mind is more 
like that of Calhoun, than any of our men. Mackintosh 
passes for very little here ; he is lazy to excess, always vacil- 
lating and undecided, is allowed to have a great memory, 



106 English Culture in Virginia. [294 

much curious learning &c but is without the promptness and 
tact necessary to business ; then no one can rely on his opin- 
ions, principles or exertions. He is either not present or 
takes exactly the opposite course from what every one sup- 
poses he will. His declamatory way of talking about the 
"extraordinary eccentricities of the human mind" &e seems 
after such endless repetitions, monotonous & cold, while his 
manner is nearly as bad as any manner can be — swaggering 
vociferations and ear-splitting violence from beginning to end. 1 
The University will open in February and I shall be with 
you in time to give you a greeting at the Court of Appeals. 



Another way in which Gilmer employed his time was in 
examining the library at Lambeth. Having wished to have 
a MS. relating to the life of John Smith copied, he entered 
into correspondence with one of the librarians and was suc- 
cessful in his object. This copy ought to be in the library of 
the University of Virginia, but I can learn nothing of it. 2 

On the 19th a sad little note was received from Miss Frances 
Dorothy Cartwright whom Gilmer had met at her uncle's 
house. Major Cartwright, who had now only four days to 
live, had directed that a package of his writings should be 
made up, and carried to Mr. Jefferson by Gilmer. In send- 
ing this his niece took occasion to write a loving and pathetic 
note about her uncle's condition and to express herself as glad 
that Gilmer would be able to speak of him as he deserved, 
in a country he had always loved. The note is touching and 
bespoke the true feminine heart which had burst forth into 
song over the woes of the Spaniards. For the lady was not 
only a devoted niece and faithful biographer but a poetess, 

'Compare with his friend Ticknor's impression (Ticknor's Life, <&c, 
1, 289). 

2 At the end of George Long's biographical sketch of Marcus Aurelius 
there is an eloquent tribute to Smith. It is highly probable that Gilmer 
introduced the great Captain to Long's notice. 



295] English Culture in Virginia. 107 

albeit her works have not given her fame. She was the 
daughter of the distinguished inventor and lived to a ripe old 
age — dying in 1863. 

On the 20th of September Mr. George Harvey wrote 
from Plymouth, asking many questions about the Univer- 
sity. On the 22nd Peter Barlow wrote a short and unim- 
portant note about Mr. Harvey, and on the 25th that 
gentleman himself wrote from Plymouth declining, on fam- 
ily considerations, gratefully, but positively, the chair of 
natural philosophy. 1 In the meantime the correspondence 
with Harwood about the professorship of natural history 
had been going on vigorously. 

On the 27th Mr. Rush wrote proposing a visit to the dock- 
yard at Portsmouth during the first week in October ; and as 
Gilmer wrote to his brother Peachy from that port on October 
4th, the visit was probably made. 

Dr. Parr also wrote, on the same day, a characteristic letter, 
which is here inserted : 

Hattokt, 3rd Oct., 1824. 

Dear & much respected Mr. Gillmar, 

I have been very ill, but I hope to be better. I will give 
myself the sweet satisfaction of writing to you a few lines 
before you leave England. I rejoice to hear that you have 
fixed upon proper teachers and I beg at your leisure that you 
will inform me of your names, the schools where they have 
been educated & the persons who have recommended them. 
When I get more strength & have the aid of a scribe I shall 



1 Among the obituary notices in the Gentleman's Magazine I came across 
one which seems to point to this gentleman. It was to the effect that on 
October 29th, 1834, George Harvey, Esq., one of the mathematical mas- 
ters at Woolwich, committed suicide in Plymouth by hanging himself by 
a silk handkerchief from a hook in his cellar — "verdict, mental derange- 
ment." Mr. Harvey contributed studies to various philosophical maga- 
zines, and two of his contributions may be found in the 10th volume of the 
Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. 



108 English Culture in Virginia. [296 

write to you and to Mr. Jefferson, and I shall correspond with 
both of you unreservedly. Through an active life and [of] 
nearly seventy eight [years] I have experienced the precious 
advantages of steadiness & sincerity. This you would have 
seen clearly if you had known me more closely. Mr. Gilmar, 
there is now a safe & open path for mutual communication 
thro' the American Ambassador & you will prepare occasion- 
ally for forwarding our letters. To Mr. Jefferson present not 
only my good wishes but the tribute of my respect & my con- 
fidence. I shall write of him [what] Dr. Young said of 
Johnson's Rasselas — " It was a globe of sense." I use the 
same words with the same approbation of Mr. Jefferson's let- 
ter to me. I have corresponded with many scholars, many 
philosophers, & many eminent politicians upon many subjects, 
lint never, and I repeat the word, never did I see a more 
wise letter than that with which I was honored by Mr. 
Jefferson. I shall preserve it as [here the letter is torn] 
I heartily wish you a good voyage and have the honour to 
subscribe myself, 

Dear Sir, your faithful friend & 

Respectful obedient servant, 

Samuel Pare. 

By a letter from Key received on September 27th, we learn 
that the contracts with the four professors already engaged 
were being signed. There were, of course, some hitches with 
all, but both sides were anxious to be fair, and the difficulties 
were soon removed. A copy of the covenant with Dr. Dun- 
glison is before me, but I am not certain that it was not 
altered, for it was made before any signatures had been 
affixed. The first year's salary was fixed at $1,500; for the 
next four years it might vary from $ 1,000 to $1,500, accord- 
ing to the amount realized by tuition fees ; the other provis- 
ions need not be cited. From Key's letter we find that both 
Dr. Dunglison and himself had engaged passage from Liver- 
pool on the 16th of October. 



297] English Culture in Virginia. 109 

On the same day, September 27th, a short note from 
Dugald Stewart was received, with a letter for Mr. Jefferson, 
and wishes for Gilmer's pleasant voyage. 

In the meantime Dr. John Harwood, although his own 
plans with regard to the University were undecided, had sug- 
gested Mr. Frederick Norton, of Bristol, as a proper person 
for the chair of natural philosophy; and Gilmer had written 
to him accordingly. On October 3rd, Mr. Norton wrote 
to Gilmer asking for further information. I have been unable 
to get any information as to Mr. Norton's antecedents. 

About this time Mr. Gilmer received the following letter, 
which requires some comment : 

10 Seymour Street West. 
My dear Sir 

I thought I could let you go back to America without 
troubling you with a letter for my brother. I could not well 
dwell at length on the painful subject of my boy's state but I 
have alluded to it. In case it should give pain to his affec- 
tionate heart too much on my account, you may tell him that 
habit & fortitude are beginning to reconcile me even to this 
most terrible blow that ever befell my existence. You can 
tell him how cheerful you saw me & I am habitually so — for 
I think it folly to grieve at fate. 

He is to be removed [to] an asylum very soon. At 
present he is in so strange a state that it is painful to see 
company in my own House. This circumstance has de- 
barred me from the pleasure of shewing you many atten- 
tions that were due to you as a mark of my sense of your 
kindness. I have been much gratified however by making 
your acquaintance & with best wishes for your safety & 
happiness remain, 

Dear Sir, 

Yours very truly, 

T. Campbell. 



110 English Culture in Virginia. [298 

The son whose misfortune is alluded to was Thomas 
Telford, named after Campbell's friend, the distinguished 
engineer. The poet's grief was great, and besides his work 
upon " Theodoric," which was published in November of 
this year, he threw himself heart and soul into another 
piece of work, to drive away his cares. This was the agi- 
tation of a scheme for establishing a university in London. 
Some such project had been in his mind since his visit to 
Germany in 1820; but it was not brought prominently 
forward until January 31st, 1825, at a dinner given by 
Brougham. 1 The matter was then pressed warmly by 
Brougham, Joseph Hume, Dr. Birkbeck, and others, and 
was brought to a successful issue in 1827. Now, as Camp- 
bell had allowed the idea to rest for five years, I do not think 
it at all improbable that Gilmer's visit, connected as it was 
with a similar movement in a kindred country, had a great 
deal to do with giving a fresh impetus to the scheme. Then, 
too, Gilmer had been thrown into intimate relations with 
Brougham and Dr. Birkbeck, and probably with Leonard 
Horner, and had doubtless by his enthusiasm kindled afresh 
their own natural impulses toward educational work — and 
these three were prominent among the founders of the London 
University. Besides there is a striking parallel in the un-- 
theologioal basis of both colleges. It is well known that this 
latter institution drew back two of the professors whom Eng- 
land had lent to America ; but it is more than probable that 
the connection between the two universities began with Gil- 
mer's visit. 

But to return to our main theme. Only four professors 
have so far been secured — those of natural philosophy and of 
natural history remain. The latter professorship was not 
filled at all in England, and the correspondence about it will 
occupy us soon. The former was filled before Gilmer left 



1 See the article on Campbell in the Dictionary of National Biography, 
and also Beattie's Life of Campbell. 



299] English Culture in Virginia. Ill 

England, by the selection of Mr. Charles Bonnycastle, who 
has been mentioned before. Mr. Bonnycastle was then in his 
33rd year, and was engaged abroad on some government busi- 
ness, the nature of which I have not learned. No letters to 
or from him are preserved, although some were written ; the 
whole matter seems to have been arranged between Gilmer 
and Peter Barlow, after the 25th of September, when Mr. 
Harvey definitely declined. Gilmer, however, seems to have 
had a conversation with Bonnycastle just before he left Lon- 
don. This hasty arrangement by proxy led to a slight mis- 
understanding, as will be seen in the next chapter. A short 
account of the Harwood correspondence will close our sketch 
of Mr. Gilmer's important mission. 

On the 20th of September, Dr. John Harwood, then 
lecturing in Manchester, answered a letter which Gilmer -had 
been advised to write by Dr. Birkbeck. In this answer he 
expatiates on the advantages such a new field as America 
would offer a natural historian, but regrets that an engagement 
to lecture before the Royal Institution will leave him un- 
decided as to his plans until the following May. But he 
offers a suggestion that may obviate the difficulty. He has a 
brother now studying medicine in Edinburgh, who has been 
a fellow lecturer with him in natural history, and who is 
zealous in the cause. Why not let him keep the place warm? 
He can have copies of any lectures the Doctor himself would 
deliver ; and if the latter decide to remain in England, 
no fitter person than the brother can be found to keep the 
chair, and in two countries two Harwoods can work their 
way to fame. Gilmer's answer to this really well-worded 
letter, has not been preserved ; but from a letter written by 
Harwood on September 20th, I judge that it was uot unfavor- 
able. The Doctor talks of forming a nucleus for a museum 
at once, and promises to look out for a professor of natural 
philosophy. Then comes a long aud manly letter from Wil- 
liam Harwood, the brother, offering his services. He owns to 
no very extensive knowledge of mineralogy, but has a good 



112 English Culture in Virginia. [300 

training in chemistry, and is especially fond of zoology. He 
asks sensible questions, and writes throughout in a modest 
tone. 

In the meantime (September 26th) John Harwood wrote, 
mentioning Norton by residence but not by name, and giving 
valuable information with regard to the purchase of a 
museum. He also recommends his brother in warm terms. 
Gilmer wrote, complaining that Harwood was not explicit 
enough, although to my mind he very explicitly wished his 
brother to get the place, either permanently or temporarily. 
Then Dr. Harwood wrote a letter on September 30th, " re- 
spectfully observing " that he could not enter into any foreign 
engagement for the present, but that his brother was at liberty 
to made arrangements either permanent or temporary. On 
October 1st, Dr. Harwood wrote another letter, this time 
concerning Norton, who would like the place, and whom he 
recommended highly, observing, however, that he was by no 
means a man of the world. Then on October 24th the Doc- 
tor wrote to his friend, Birkbeck, and stated that William 
Harwood had undertaken, at Gilmer's request, a visit to 
the Isle of Wight, to see that gentleman on his way out. On 
his arrival there, Gilmer informed him that so much time had 
elapsed that he should prefer to leave the matter to the 
Board of Visitors, unless Harwood would go out at his own 
risk. Dr. Harwood himself went over to Liverpool, in 
hopes of seeing Gilmer, but saw only Mr. Long. We learn 
also that Mr. Norton went to the Isle of Wight to see Gilmer, 
but arrived four hours too late — a sad commentary on un- 
worldliness. This letter was forwarded by Dr. Birkbeck to 
Gilmer, in Virginia. Next in series comes a letter dated and 
endorsed November 16th, which can only mean September 16, 
but which is unimportant. It may here be remarked, inci- 
dentally, that in forwarding Harwood's letter, Dr. Birkbeck 
spoke highly of Bonnycastle, and stated that had he had any 
idea that the young man was within Gilmer's reach, he would 
have been his first recommendation. 



301] English Culture in Virginia. 113 

Now it is not well to offer opinions when one has read only 
one side of the case, and I know Mr. Gilmer to have been a 
fair, honorable man who succeeded admirably in his other 
negotiations, but I cannot help thinking that he did not act 
in this affair of the Harwoods with his accustomed caution. 
He should not have made the young man come to the Isle of 
Wight and then put him off with an excuse that could not 
hold. He had engaged Bonnycastle within a week and that 
too without seeing him but once ; he had absolute powers, 
and if he did not like young Harwood on personal acquain- 
tance he should, I think, have found some other way of dis- 
missing him than such an excuse. Besides if he had not 
liked the young man he should not have even hinted at his 
going to the United States at his own risk. But, I repeat, it 
is not well to judge too hastily in such matters. Gilmer was 
probably in a hurry to get back and had possibly been wearied 
by the elder Harwood's importunities. If one can judge by a 
letter, however, William Harwood was not the man to be 
treated so summarily. The Harwood letters it should be 
observed do not breathe a suspicion of any questionable treat- 
ment. I alone am responsible for these criticisms and they 
are the only ones I have to make on Mr. Gilmer's manage- 
ment of a tedious and difficult commission. 1 

I have so far said nothing about his purchases for the 
library ; and now I can only mention that he bought most of 
the books from Bohn, and was much assisted by his banker, 
Mr. Marx. 2 



'John Harwood, Esq., M. D., F. R. S., &c, died at St. Leonards on the 
Sea, September 7th, 1854. I can find no obituary notice of him either in 
the Gentleman's Magazine or the Athenaeum for this year. 

A Wm. Harwood, M. D., was the author of a book on the " Curative 
influence of the Southern Coast of England," which was both praised and 
abused (G.'s M., 1828, Part 2, Supplement). I do not know whether this 
was our friend or not. 

2 Mr. Madison will hardly seem to some a fit person to apply to for a 
catalogue of theological books ; but he did make out such a list for the 
University. See his writings, III, 450. 



114 English Culture in Virginia. [302 

On the 5th day of October he sailed from Cowes in the 
packet Crisis, bound for New York. 

Thus three quarters of a century after Bishop Berkeley 
had discouraged Dr. Johnson from trying to obtain English 
teachers for the new King's College in New York, Mr. Jef- 
ferson and Mr. Gilmer succeeded admirably in their trying 
and important task. 1 



" Berkeley's Works (Fraser), IV, 322. Letter from Berkeley to Johnson, 
Aug. 23d, 1749. 



CHAPTER V. 

CONCLUSION. 

Thirty-five days after sailing from Cowes the packet Crisis 
arrived in New York. How Gilmer fared on the voyage 
will be seen from an almost too realistic letter written to 
Judge Carr on the 14th of November. This letter will be 
given presently. In the meantime on the 12th and 13th of 
the same month two letters were sent to Mr. Jefferson. In 
the first of these a list of the five professors was given and it 
was stated that they would arrive in ten days from the date 
of the letter. As will be seen later the hopes thus raised in 
Mr. Jefferson's breast were to be cruelly deferred. Gilmer 
also states that he could not hear of a single man in England 
fit for the chair of Natural History. In the second letter 
Campbell is said to have been the best friend Virginia had 
among all the writers of Great Britain. The letter also 
suggests John Torrey of West Point as the best person in 
America for the chair of Natural History. It may be men- 
tioned here that President Monroe had some months since 
suggested Torrey and Percival, the poet and geologist, for 
chairs in the new University. We also find that Gilmer had 
been compelled to promise all the professors a fixed salary of 
$1,500 except Dr. Blaettermann, who, he thinks, should be 
placed on the same footing with the rest. I now give por- 
tions of the letter to Dabney Carr. 

115 



116 English Culture in Virginia. [304 

New York, Nov: 14, 1824. 
Most dear Friend, 

Having concluded all my arrangements in England much 
to my satisfaction, I thought to return with triumph to the 
light & bosom of my friends. Fatal reverse of all my hopes ! 
here am I chained like Prometheus, after 35 days of anguish 
at sea, such as man never endured. I hold sea sickness 
nothing, I laughed at it, as I went over — but to have added 
to it a raging & devouring fever aggravated by want of 
medicine, of food, of rest, of attendance, & the continued tossing 
of the " rude imperious surge," form a combination of miseries 
not easily imagined, & never before, I believe, exhibited. I 
am reduced to a shadow, and disordered throughout my whole 
system. My liver chiefly it is thought. Among other symp- 
toms, while I was in mid ocean, a horrible impostumation, 
such as I supposed only accompanied the plague, in the form 
of anthrax or carbuncle, appeared on my left side, low as I 
was. I neglected it till it was frightful — it required lancing 
— but not a man could I get to do it — some were sea sick — 
others indifferent, I called one who said he was a Doctor, & 
desired him to cut it open — we had no lancet, no scalpel, no 
knife that was fit, & finding him a timid booby, whose hand 
shook, I took with my own hand a pair of scissors I happened 

to have, and laid open my own flesh We had no 

caustic, & I had to apply blue stone, which was nearly the 
same sort of dressing, as the burning pitch to the bare nerves 
of Ravaillac — yet I am no assassin — all the way I repeated, 

"Sweet are the uses of adversity, &c." 

I must turn this to some account — in this world I cannot, 
but I " lay the flattering unction to my soul " that he who 
suffers well never suffers in vain. Such is the martyrdom I 
have endured for the Old Dominion — she will never thank 
me for it — but I will love & cherish her as if she did 



305] English Culture in Virginia. 117 

For over a month the poor fellow was confined at New 
York, but he was not idle. Mr. Jefferson answered his letters 
on Nov. 21st, giving an account of the University buildings 
and of his endeavors to get the books and baggage of the pro- 
fessors through without duty. In a note of November 22nd 
he implores Gilmer, not to desert them by refusing the profes- 
sorship of law — this being the only thing he has to complain 
of in all his agent's conduct. 

On the 29th of November John Torrey 1 wrote from West 
Point declining the professorship of natural history on the 
ground that he was well satisfied with his present position, 
but recommending Dr. John Patton Emmet, of New York, 
in these words : " His talents as chemist and scholar, and 
standing as a gentleman are of the first rank. I know him 
well and know none before him." This recommendation 
brought about an interview between Dr. Emmet and Mr. 
Gilmer, the result of which was the election of the former to 
the chair which had given so much trouble. Dr. Emmet was 
a son of the Irish patriot and distinguished lawyer, Thomas 
Addis Emmet. Both father and son contributed to Gilmer's 
comfort during his confinement, as did also John Randolph 
of Roanoke, whom Gilmer had seen in England and who 
passed through New York during the latter's sickness. Gil- 
mer's relations with this eccentric man were always of the 
pleasantest kind — a circumstance somewhat remarkable. 2 

At this time the young man had fully determined not to 
accept the law professorship as there seemed too much likeli- 
hood that, if lie did accept, his health would render the position 
a practical sinecure ; for he would have to have an assistant 



1 Torrey left West Point shortly after (1S27) and became professor of 
botany and chemistry in the College of Physicians and Surgeons. He 
wrote many valuable works on botany and deserves to be remembered as 
having been the instructor of Asa Gray. 

'Wni. Pope, the eccentric character before alluded to, once wrote Gilmer 
that John Randolph had declared him "the most intelligent and best in- 
formed man of his age in Virginia" (letter of Nov. 2nd, 1S25). 



118 English Culture in Virginia. [306 

and he knew that the Visitors would never give him up after 
his valuable services and the consequent injury to his consti- 
tution. He therefore endeavored to sound as to the situation 
that distinguished jurist, Chancellor Kent, who had accepted 
a position in Columbia College, where he was to deliver the 
lectures which subsequently formed the basis of his Com- 
mentaries. The politics of the Chancellor were an objection, 
but his reputation as a jurist would make him a desirable 
acquisition. The negotiation did not go far, however, and 
Gilmer had to content himself with proposing the name of 
Dr. Emmet to the Visitors, cordially endorsing all that Torrey 
had said about him. 

In the meantime Messrs. Long and Blaettermann arrived 
at New York, and after calling upon Gilmer, hastened to 
Richmond, proceeding from the latter place to the University, 
where they found their pavilions in readiness. It was also 
ascertained that Key, Dunglison, and Bonnycastle would sail 
in the Competitor direct to Norfolk. 

By the 22nd of December we rind Gilmer in Norfolk, stay- 
ing with his friend Tazewell. On the same day Mr. Jefferson 
wrote two letters to Cabell in Richmond, from the first of 
which I take this extract : 

" Mr. Long, professor of ancient languages, is located in his 
apartments at the University. He drew, by lot, Pavilion No. 
V. He appears to be a most amiable man, of fine under- 
standing, well qualified for his department, and acquiring 
esteem as fast as he becomes known. Indeed I have great 
hopes that the whole selection will fulfill our wishes." 

The second letter was of a more private nature and is given 
almost entire : 

Monticello, Dee. 22, 1824. 

Dear Sir, — Let the contents of this letter be known to you 
and myself only. We want a professor of Ethics. Mr. Madi- 
son and myself think with predilection, of George Tucker, 
our member of Congress. You know him, however, better 



307] English Culture in Virginia. 119 

than we do. Can we get a better ? Will he serve ? You 
know the emoluments, and that the tenure is in fact for life, 
the lodgings comfortable, the society select, &c. If you ap- 
prove of him, you may venture to propose it to him, and ask 
him if he will accept. I say "you may venture," because 
three of us could then be counted on, and we should surely 
get one, if not more, or all, of the other four gentlemen. 1 . . . 

Mr. Cabell did sound Mr. Tucker, and after some delibera- 
tions that gentleman consented to be a candidate for the chair 
of ethics, to which position he was elected by the Visitors in 
March, 1825. At the same time Dr. Emmet was elected to 
the chair of natural history, and only the chair of law 
remained unfilled. Of Mr. Tucker's acquirements much 
might be said were not my space nearly exhausted. He had 
already acquired a reputation as a good lawyer and a faithful 
congressman, and had published some essays of value and 
a novel. He subsequently did twenty years of excellent 
work in his professorship, and greatly increased his reputation 
as an author by his Life of Jefferson and his History of the 
United States. 

But my reader must not imagine that the Evil Genius 
of Protection did not croak and flap its bat-like wings when 
five British subjects were imported to ruin the mind of the 
American youth ; or, as the Boston Gazette put it, to disgust 
them with anecdotes of "My Lord This" and "His Grace 
That." No — the following choice specimens of the journal- 
ism of the day will dispel any such comfortable idea — they 
are taken from the Richmond Enquirer of December 11th, 
1824: 

" Importation op Peofessoes. 
" [From the Boston Courier.] 

" ' The Richmond Enquirer informs the public, that Mr. Gil- 
mer of that city who went to England in May to procure profess- 

1 Jefferson-Cabell Correspondence, pages 323, 324. 



120 English Culture in Virginia. [308 

ors for the University of Virginia has returned and that he has 
been very successful in obtaining Professors, who were to sail from 
London in the Trident, about the 16th of October. On this the 
editor of the Connecticut Journal very properly remarks : 

" ' What American can read the above notice without indigna- 
tion. Mr. Jefferson might as well have said that his taverns and 
dormitories should not be built with American bricks and have 
sent to Europe for them, as to import a group of Professors. We 
wish well to his College, but must think it a pity, that an agent 
should be dispatched to Europe for a suite of Professors. Mr. 
Gilmer could have fully discharged his mission, with half the 
trouble and expense, by a short trip to New England.' 

" [From the Philadelphia Gazelle.] 

"'Or, we may be permitted to add, by a still shorter trip 
to Philadelphia. But because Pennsylvania does not produce 
Stump-Orators and Presidents, the Virginians conclude that it 
produces nothing else of value, forgetful that the first physicians, 
philosophers, historians, astronomers, and printers, known in 
American Annals have been citizens of our State. This sending 
of a Commission to Europe, to engage professors for a new Uni- 
versity, is we think one of the greatest insults the American peo- 
ple have received.' 

" We excuse the wit of our Boston and Philadelphia Editors, 
wishing them next time a better subject on which to employ it. 
It is by no means our desire to disparage the wise men of the 
East or the philosophers of Philadelphia, past, present or to come. 
We have had the misfortune, it is true, of producing two or three 
Presidents, and some fair stump orators (not to speak of Patrick 
Henry, R. H. Lee, John Randolph, or Littleton Waller Tazewell), 
but we do not see the mighty sin we commit either against good 
morals or good manners in looking out for the best Professors we 
can obtain for our rising University — nay of sending to G. Britain 
for Professors of the languages, mathematics and physics, if from 
any cause whatever it was not easy to obtain them in N. England 
or Pennsylvania. S. Carolina employs Dr. Cooper, has she been 
censured for her judicious selection ? But no man can as well ex- 
plain the motives of this visit as Mr. Jefferson himself, who in the 



309] English Culture in Virginia. 12] 

late report to the Legislature of Virginia has anticipated and 
answered, in the most appropriate manner, every exception that 
has been taken to the North " J 

I may remark that the case of Dr. Cooper does not at all 
apply, for he had been in this country nearly 30 years, and 
was not specially imported. In the same paper, however, I 
find an extract from the New York American, which repre- 
sents a more liberal class of our population. 

" We have heard with pleasure of the arrival of Messrs. Long 
and Blaettermann, the professors of ancient and modern lan- 
guages in the University of Virginia. They are well known and 
highly esteemed in England. Their talents and acquirements 
will doubtless be highly advantageous to the cause of Public In- 
struction in the country. The other Professors of this Institution, 
Messrs. Key, Bonnycastle and Dunglison are daily expected." 

In the meantime the Competitor had not put in an appear- 
ance, and great was the consternation on all sides. The news- 
papers gave accounts of terrific gales on the coast of England 
at the very time Key and his friends were to sail. Gilmer 
and Cabell were busy writing to Mr. Jefferson trying to allay 
the old gentleman's fear, but greatly alarmed themselves. 
Day after day passed and the date fixed upon for opening the 
University (February 1st) drew near. Lying stories were set 
in circulation and many predicted that the University would 
never succeed after all the delay. But on January 30th a 
gleam of hope came. Cabell had seen in a Norfolk paper that 
the Competitor was still in Plymouth on the 5th of December, 
and so had escaped the October gale. To his letter announcing 
this fact Jefferson made the following reply which is interest- 
ing enough to quote. 



1 If the New England editors had known that two of the first professor- 
ships had been offered to Bowditch and Ticknor, their language would 
probably have been milder; and what are we to think of the application of 
Rufus King to Mr. Drury ? 



122 English Culture in Virginia. [310 

Monticello, Febmary 3, 1825. 

Dear Sir, — Although our professors were on the 5th of 
December still in an English port, that they were safe raises 
me from the dead ; for I was almost ready to give up the ship. 
That was eight weeks ago, and they may therefore be daily 
expected. 

In most public seminaries, text books are prescribed to each 
of the several schools, as the norma docendi in that school ; 
and this is generally done by authority of the trustees. I 
should not propose this generally in our University, because, 
I believe none of us are so much at the heights of science in 
the several branches as to undertake this, and therefore that it 
will be better left to the professors, until occasion of inter- 
ference shall be given. But there is one branch in which we 
are the best judges, in which heresies may be taught, of so 
interesting a character to our own State, and to the United 
States, a* to make it a duty in us to lay down the principles 
which shall be taught. It is that of government. Mr. Gilmer 
being withdrawn, we know not who his successor may be. 
He may be a Richmond lawyer, or one of that school of 
quondam federalism, now consolidation. It is our duty to 
guard agirinst the dissemination of such principles among our 
youth, and the diffusion of that poison, by a previous prescrip- 
tinii of the texts to be followed in their discourses ' 

These books were actually chosen by Jefferson and Madison 
as we learn from a letter of the hitter's dated February 8th, 
J 825 (Writings, III, 481) ; but, although it would seem that 
the progressive statesman had receded from his own excellent 
doctrine that the present generation should not hamper pos- 
terity, and although a greater than the Andover Controversy 
would seem to be here in germ, when we read the list of texts 
prescribed our apprehensions are abated. They consisted of 

1 Jefferson-Cabell Correspondence, page 339. 



311] English Culture in Virginia. 123 

(1) The Declaration of Independence, (2) The Federalist, (3) 
The Virginia Resolutions of '98 against the Alien and Sedi- 
tion Laws " which appeared to accord with the predominating 
sense of the people of the United States " ; and (4) The In- 
augural Speech and Farewell Address of President Washing- 
ton "as conveying political lessons of peculiar value." 

On the same day that this letter was written Cabell wrote 
that as Gilmer had three times declined the law chair, it might 
be offered advantageously to Chancellor Tucker of Winchester. 
He also proposed a very impracticable scheme which I was 
surprised at so sensible a man's making, viz., to attach to the 
professorship a small chancery district consisting of Albemarle 
and four contiguous counties. 1 Negotiations were accordingly 
opened with Tucker but in vain. He was destined, however, 
to fill the chair from 1840 to 1844. 

In the meantime the long wished for " Competitor " arrived 
at Norfolk and on Thursday evening, February 10th, Key 
wrote the welcome intelligence to Gilmer, who lost no time in 
informing Mr. Jefferson. Key and his companions passed 
through Richmond and attracted the most favorable notice. 
The battle had been won, even the capital city of the enemy 
had been completely disarmed. 

On the seventh day of March, 1825, the University of 
Virginia was formally opened with the five foreign professors 
and forty students. Professors Tucker and Emmet arrived 
shortly after, and students kept coming in until on September 
30th they numbered 116. The first term closed on December 
15th, 1825. The professorship of law had in the meantime, 
after having been refused by Mr. P. P. Barbour and Judge 
Carr, been offered to Judge Wm. A.. C. Dade, of the general 
court. Judge Dade seems to have been a fine lawyer and a 
man of some classical attainments; but the situation did not 
charm him. Accordingly Mr. Jefferson fell back upon his first 
choice and wrote him an urgent letter. Gilmer's health now 

1 Same, page 33S. 



124 English Culture in Virginia. [312 

seemed sufficiently restored to enable him to undertake the 
work, and as he felt that the strain of public life would 
not suit him in the future, he answered Mr. Jefferson's 
more than flattering appeal by accepting the position. The 
visitors, therefore, unanimously elected him and he looked 
forward to delivering his first lecture at the beginning of the 
second term. But fate decided it otherwise, his health again 
broke down and he realized that this time he was disabled 
forever. 

Then the visitors turned to Wirt, who had been thought 
of long before, but whose high position under the government 
had seemed to preclude all chance of his acceptance. To 
make the offer more attractive, it was resolved to create a 
new office of " President of the University of Virginia" which 
should be held by Mr. Wirt, but, if he declined, should not 
go into effect. This was in April, 1826. Wirt preferred to 
settle in Baltimore and so the ill-fated chair was offered to 
John Taylor Lomax — a lawyer of some distinction, residing 
near Fredericksburg. Mr. Lomax accepted and Mr. Jeffer- 
son's agony was at last over. On the 21st of April he wrote 
to Cabell that Lomax had paid them a visit and charmed 
them all. 1 

It would seem at first thought that my work is now accom- 
plished and that that agreeable word "finis" is all that 
remains to be written. But we have not yet taken leave of 
the man whose labor this study was written to commemorate ; 
and a few words as to the fortunes of those whom he brought 
over, would not appear amiss. 

And now briefly of the latter point. 2 

Mr. Key finding that the climate of Virginia did not agree 



1 Jefferson-Cabell Correspondence, page 377. 

2 My chapters in Dr. Adams' work, before referred to, are a proper sup- 
plement to this study, and to them the reader is referred. Volumes III 
and IV of Madison's Writings are the best original source I know of for 
the period from 1826-36. 



313] English Culture in Virginia. 125 

with him was compelled to resign in 1827 and to return to 
England. There his high abilities were recognized by a 
position in the newly established University of London, and 
we marvel at the versatility of the man when we find that 
the remainder of his long and useful life was devoted to 
philology. He died in 1875, and his recently published Latin 
dictionary is the latest monument to his labor. 

On Mr. Key's resignation, Mr. Bonnycastle was transferred 
to the chair of mathematics. This gentleman at first had 
some trouble as to a bond which he was under to the British 
government, and which was forfeited by his coming to Amer- 
ica. A slight misunderstanding arose between Gilmer and 
himself owing to this fact and to the hasty drawing up of the 
contract between them. But mutual explanations happily 
settled the matter. Mr. Bonnycastle held the chair of mathe- 
matics until his death in 1840, and was, I believe, the first in 
this country to introduce the use of the ratio method of the 
trigonometrical functions. 

Mr. Long received a call to the London University in 1828, 
but he left a worthy representative behind him. In my chap- 
ter in Dr. Adams' work, I give a sketch of the work of Dr. 
Gessner Harrison, whom Long nominated as his successor. 
That sketch, taken mainly from an address by the Rev. John 
A. Broadus, cannot be repeated here. It is sufficient to say 
that Long kept Dr. Harrison posted on all the latest German 
discoveries in philology, and that the students of the Univer- 
sity of Virginia were familiar with the labors of Bopp before 
that great man was fully recognized in Germany itself. Of 
Mr. Long's subsequent labors for English education, I surely 
need not speak. 

With respect to Dr. Blaettermann, I have been singularly 
unfortunate in collecting information. The few notices I have 
seen of him, speak highly of his attainments, but are not so 
pleasant in other respects. Gilmer seems to have seen what 
he calls a " puff" about him in one of the English papers, 



126 English Culture in Virginia. [314 

and Dr. Gessner Harrison wrote in a kindly way of him in 
Duyckinck's Cyclopaedia. 1 

Dr. Robley Dunglison's name is so well known in this 
country that J need only say that he remained eight years at 
the University, and laid the foundation of what has proved to 
be a remarkably successful medical school. Mr. Jefferson, in 
his last illness, trusted entirely to his skill. His work in 
medical literature is known even to general readers. The 
subsequent careers of the native professors are foreign to my 
purpose, and it only remains for us to take our leave of the 
man we have learnt to know so well, Francis Walker Gilmer. 

The tale is soon told ; and being sad, this is surely best. 
After returning from New York, he was thrown back by the 
carelessness of a servant, who left a window open by his bed 
all night. As he was naturally delicate, his health was 
rapidly undermined. He could attend to little business, and 
left Richmond for Albemarle, from whence he went to one of 
the Virginia Springs. The little business he could attend to 
was of a painful nature, being connected with the ruined' 
fortunes of his old friend, ex-governor Thomas Mann Ran- 
dolph. The trip to the Springs buoyed him up, and he 
accepted the law professorship, as we have seen. But his 
disorders becoming worse, he was compelled to resign, and 
after a lingering illness of many weeks, he died at the resi- 
dence of one of his relatives in Albemarle, on the 25th 
of February, 1826. One of his last acts was to leave a sum 
of money for the purchase of a communion service for the 
Episcopal Church in Charlottesville. He passed away in the 
arms of his brother Peachy, who has recorded in the Volume 
before me that " he died in the faith of Jesus Christ." Upon 
the last letter which he received from his dear friend, Wm. , 
Wirt, Gilmer wrote these few lines in pencil — the last writing 
he ever did : " Dear & beloved Mr. W. — Nothing but a last 

1 Dr. Adams cites an article in the Southern Literary Messenger for Janu- 
ary, 1842, which throws light on the characters of the early professors. 



315] English Culture in Virginia. 127 

hope could have induced me to take such a liberty with you. 1 
I have scarcely any hope of recovering & was but a day or 
two ago leaving you my last souvenir. I have not written to 
you because I love & admire you & am too low to use 
my own hand with convenience. Farewell to you & to all a 
family I have esteemed so well." 

I promised to give a detailed account of Mr. Gilmer's lite- 
rary work, but I now find that from want of space I cannot 
keep that promise. Perhaps it is as well that I should not; 
the world has forgotten what he wrote — I would fain hope 
that it will not forget what he did. There are MS. essays 
extant on "The causes of the ascent of vapour" and "Certain 
phenomena of vision," which it will be best to leave undis- 
turbed, although they certainly show an original and, inquir- 
ing mind. In the Analectic Magazine for July, 1818, will be 
found an interesting account of a visit paid to the Cherokees 
in Tennessee, probably in company with Mr. Correa, but the 
modern reader would be apt to think that the article dealt 
more with the Greeks and Romans than was necessary. The 
essay on the Natural Bridge, which was translated by Pic- 
tet, appeared, I believe, in the XV th volume of the same 
magazine. This I have not seen. In January, 1828, Field- 
ing Lucas, Jan., of Baltimore, issued a small volume of 
" Sketches, Essays and Translations, by the late Francis 
Walker Gilmer, of Virginia," Mr. Wirt contributing a 
preface. This contained the revised " Sketches of American 
Orators," by far, it seems to me, his best performance, and 
containing some good criticism, " A vindication of the laws 
limiting the rate of interest on loans," an answer to Bentham, 
which, though it shows a great deal of legal learning, inclines 
too much to reasoning by analogy, and hardly settles the mat- 
ter ; and certain translations from the French economists lent 
him by Du Pont de Nemours. These, with the volume of 



'That is — using Wirt's own letter for his reply. 



128 English Culture in Virginia. [316 

reports previously mentioned, constitute all of Gilmer's 
writings with which I am acquainted. 1 

His learning was certainly curious and enormous. He 
seems to have been a fine lawyer, perhaps the most learned 
of his day in Virginia ; it can hardly be said that he was a 
philosophic jurist. He was also a good classical scholar and 
botanist — something of a philologian and physical experi- 
menter — and personally one of the most agreeable of com- 
panions. There are many things in these letters which show 
a delicate wit and some of the turns of his mind are as 
original as they are entertaining. This may serve as a sam- 
ple. Speaking of Wirt's success he says that he has heard 
that Wirt created as much astonishment in Washington as 
the Duke of Buckingham did in Madrid, "there having been 
no such comet in that hemisphere." 2 

How Mr. Gilmer was regarded by his contemporaries may 
be seen from the following letter : 

Washington, Dee. 27, 1827. 
My dear Sir, 

I am extremely sensible to your kind attention & highly 
obliged by it. Everything connected with my late friend, 
your dear brother, is dear to me. I am now probably as near 
my journey's end as he was on his return from that ill fated 
voyage to England, from which I date the disease that so 



1 1 have seen it stated that he wrote some of the numbers of the "Old 
Bachelor," and several articles in the Virginia Evangelical and Literary 
Magazine, of which his friend, Dr. Rice, was editor. Both of these statements 
are probably true ; but no mention is made of the matter in the Gilmer 
letters; nor is lie stated to have been a contributor in the obituary notice 
of him in the ninth volume of the aforesaid magazine. 

2 1 also find a characteristic sentence cl propos of the strained relations 
between Wirt and Pinckney (relations more strained than Mr. Kennedy's 
tender heart would allow him to tell us)» " You may never again have a 
chance of shivering his spear, which is not of mountain ash like that of 
Achilles, but, as Randolph said of his own, rather of the tobacco stick order, 
though pointed up like a small sword." 



317] English Culture in Virginia. 129 

cruelly robbed us of him. Whether we shall be permitted 
to recognize our friends in a future world is beyond our ken 
— but the belief is so consonant with the goodness of our 
Creator & so consolatory to the heart of man that I would 
fain indulge in it. 

Accept, my dear Sir, my best wishes and respects — 
Your obliged 
To J. R. of Roanoke. 

Peachy R. Gilmer Esq. 

Both Mr. Randolph and Mr. Wirt were applied to for an 
epitaph ; but neither felt equal to the task. The letters from 
which the foregoing was taken and which have been the basis 
of this study were collected by Mr. Peachy Gilmer in 1833 
and bound in two large volumes for the use of his descend- 
ants. Mr. Wirt was very loth to part with Gilmer's letter 
to him, reserving at the last the letter written from Shake- 
speare's house and the leaf of Kenilworth ivy which accom- 
panied it. 

Francis Walker Gilmer, Virginia's benefactor, lies buried 
at his old family seat, Pen Park, in Albemarle County. Over 
his remains is a plain stone recording the dates of his birth 
and death and preserving the following epitaph, written by 
himself, and almost as sad as Swift's — 

" Pray, stranger, allow one who never had peaee while he lived, 

The sad Immunities of the Grave, 

Silence and Repose." 



Erratum. 



For " gigomaniac" on page 9 read gig-maniac. The quotation marks are 
dropped because the writer is doubtful whether Carlyle ever used the 
word — " gigmanity," which occurs in the essay on Boswell's Life, probably 
occasioned the misapprehension. But reviewing his work, after the lapse 
of nearly a year, the writer finds himself wondering how Carlyle and so 
many extraneous subjects got mixed up with what he intended to make the 
simple record of a good man's life. 



APPENDIX. 



It seems well to preserve here three of the letters which 
Gilmer received from George Ticknor. In a few respects 
they appear to supplement those, relating to the same period, 
which have already delighted the world in that charming 
book — "The Life and Letters of George Ticknor." Good 
letters are too rare to be carelessly put aside, and T feel 
convinced that my readers will thank me for acting upon 
this conviction and presenting these. 



Gottingen King" of Hanover. 
May 31st, 1816. 

I am rejoiced- to find my Dear Gilmer by the letter you 
sent by Mr. Terrell 1 that you have not forgotten me, though 
you have not heard from me. That this has been the case, 
however is no fault of mine. Immediately after receiving 
your letter of last May, I wrote to America to know where I 
should address to you, and since then I have made the same 
inquiry of Mr. Jefferson and in Paris but could learn nothing 
of yon, until day before yesterday, when your very welcome 
letter came to tell me all I hoped to hear except that you had 
renounced your intention of coming to Europe. In this 
respect you have changed your plans ; and as you intend to 
be a lawyer, I rather think you have done wisely. I too 



1 The young Virginian previously referred to. 

131 



132 Appendix. [320 

have changed my plans, I have renounced the law altogether, 
and determined to prolong my stay in Europe, that I may 
do something towards making myself a scholar, and perhaps 
you will smile, when I add that my determining motive to 
this decision, of which I have long thought, was the admirable 
means and facilities and inducements to study offered by a 
German University. But however you may smile on the 
other side of the Atlantic, you would if you were on this, do 
just as I have done. My inclination is entirely & exclusively 
to literature — the only question with me, therefore, was, where 
I could best fit myself to pursue haud passibus aequis its 
future progress & improvement. In England I fount! that 
the vigorous spirit of youth was already fled though to be 
sure in its place I found a green and honourable old age — in 
France — where literature, its progress & success was always 
much more intimately connected with the court than it ever 
was in any other age or country if Rome under Augustus be 
excepted, — in France it has long been the sport of political 
revolutions & seems at last to be buried amidst the ruins of 
national independence — and in the S(outh) of Europe, in 
Portugal, Spain, and Italy centuries have passed over its 
grave. — In Germany, however, where the spirit of letters first 
began to be felt a little more than half a century ago, all is 
still new & young, and the workings of this untried spirit 
starting forth in fresh strength, & with all the advantages 
which the labour and experience of other nations can give it 
are truly astonishing. In America, indeed, we have but little 
of these things, for our knowledge of all Europe is either 
derived from the French, whose totally different manners, & 
language & character prevents them from even conceiving 
those of Germany, or from England, whose ancient prejudices 
against every thing continental as yet prevent them from 
receiving as it deserves a kindred literature. Still, however, 
the English scholars have found out that the Germans are far 
before them in the knowledge of antiquity, so that if you 
look into an English Treatise ou Bibliography you will find 



321] Appendix. 133 

nine tenths of the best editions of the classics to be German ; 
— and Mad. de Stael has told the world, tho' to be sure, very 
imperfectly and unworthily, what a genial & original litera- 
ture has sprung up in Germany within the last 50 years like 
a volcano from the wastes & depths of the ocean. — But it is 
not what they have already done, or what they are at this 
moment doing, astonishing as both are, which makes me hope 
so much from these Germans. It is the free, & philosphical 
spirit with which they do it — the contempt of all ancient 
forms considered as such, and the exemption from all preju- 
dice^ — above all, the unwearied activity with which they push 
forward, and the high objects they propose to themselves — it 
is this, that makes me feel sure, Germany is soon to leave all 
the rest of the world very far behind in the course of improve- 
ment — and it was this that determined me to remain 'here 
rather than to pursue my studies in countries where this high 
spirit has faded away. — 

You may perhaps smile at all this, my dear Gilmer, and 
think that my reasons for spending above a year and a half 
in Gottingen are as bad as the revolution itself. If we live 
twenty years, however, & then meet one another, you will be 
prepared to tell me I have done right, for though the political 
machine may at' last grind Germany to powder, yet I am 
satisfied that the spirit which was not extinguished or even 
repressed by the French Usurpation will not be stopped in its 
career by any revolution that is likely to happen before that 
time, and in twenty years German literature, & science, and 
learning will stand higher than those of any other modern 
nation. Mr. Terrel, of course, I have not yet seen, but in a 
little more than a year I shall, I suppose, find him in Ger- 
many ; & if I can there do him any service, you may be 
certain, that I shall not be found unfaithful to the remem- 
brance of the many pleasant hours passed with you & owed 
to you in Philadelphia and Washington. Farewell. I will 
write to you soon again & you must write soon to me. Send 
your letters to Boston care of E. Ticknor & they will certainly 



134 Appendix. [322 

reach me. Where is Winchester? Tell me all about it & about 
your situation. If it is near Monticello, remember me when 
you are there, & tell Mr. Jefferson that my only regret in 
determining to stay here is that I cannot have the pleasure of 
purchasing his books in Paris. I hope, however, as I have 
told him, still to find some way of being useful to him in 
Europe. 

Yrs truly, George Ticknor. 

Francis W. Gilmer, Esq., 

Winchester, Virg. 
Care of John Vatjghan, Esq., 

Philadelphia. 

II- 

Gottingen Jan. 30. 1817. 

Your very welcome letter of Oct. 11. 1816. my dear 
Gilmer reached me a few days since and I thank you for it 
a thousand times. — It afforded me pleasure in every part 
except that in which you speak of your feeble health. My 
dear Gilmer, take care of yourself. I say this from an 
experience, which makes my warning solemn, and which 
should make it efficient. — One of the very first things that 
struck me on coming to Europe was, that their men of letters 
& professions here live much longer and enjoy lively & active 
faculties much later than in America. 1 And what is the 
reason? Not because our students labour harder — not because 
they exercise less — not because they smoke more or for any 
other of the twenty frivolous reasons that are given by anxious 
friends among us, for these are all disproved by the fact here, 
that a man of letters works from 12 to 16 hours a day — 

1 Here he adds on the side of the page — I have reduced this to an 
arithmetical fact by calculating the length of the lives of men of letters in 
Eng.(land) France, Spain, Italy, & Germany. 



323] Appendix. 135 

exercises not at all — smokes three fourths of his time &c &c. 
— The reason is, that every man must have habits suited to 
his occupations, whereas our men of letters are so few that 
they are obliged to adopt the habits of persons about them 
whose occupations are utterly different. Thus we get up late 
in the morning because breakfast is not to be had early with 
convenience to the family — we dine late because our dinner 
hour must conform to that of men of business — we give the 
evening to the world because it is the fashion — and thus 
having passed the whole day under the constraint of others, 
we steal half the solitude & silence of the night to repair our 
loss. Under the influence of such habits our men of letters 
in America seldom attain their fortieth year & often fall vic- 
tims in the very threshold of active life. The great faults 
lie in the distribution of time and of meals. — A student should 
certainly rise early, not only because Sir John Sinclair's Tables 
show that early risers are always (caeteris paribus) the longest 
livers but because anyone who has made the experiment will 
tell you that the morning is the best time for labour. It has 
the advantages of silence & solitude for Avhich we use the 
evening and the great additional ones that mind & body are 
then refreshed & quickened for exertion. In the nature of 
things therefore, the heaviest studies, whatever they may be, 
should be the first in the day, & as far as it is possible, I 
would have their weight diminished in each portion of time 
until they cease, because by the fatigue of exercise, the faculties 
become continually less capable of easy & dexterous exertion 
without being compelled to it by excitement which afterwards 
produces languor. Then as to meals — I would not eat a 
hearty American breakfast on first rising, for that is the very 
time, when as the body is already strengthened & restored by 
sleep, it needs least of all the excitement of hearty food. 
Still less is the intrusion of craving hunger to be desired. — 
For the first seven or eight hours, after rising therefore, I 
have observed it best to keep the appetite merely still by 
eating perhaps twice some very light food — bread & butter & 



136 Appendix. [324 

a cup of coffee &c — By that time the strength needs assistance 
& the principal meal in the day should be made, which with 
light food once or at most twice afterwards is sufficient until 
" Nature's grand restorer " comes to fit mind & body for new 
exertions. Observe, I pray you, that the two last hours in 
the day should not as with us, be the hours chosen for the 
severest labour, but should as much as possible, be hours of 
very light reading, or absolute amusement & idleness for two 
reasons, because the mind & body are then weary whether we 
permit ourselves to feel it or not and because the excitement 
of hard study just before going to bed prevents us from 
enjoying " the sweet, the innocent sleep " which is so indis- 
pensable to refresh the faculties. — Now, my dear Gilmer, do 
not say all this is theory & whim, for I know it — I feel it to 
be fact. In America my health faded under eight, nine & 
ten hours study in a day and I have lived in Gottingen a 
year & an half and grown stronger on studying more than 
twelve hours a day. I rise at five o'clock in the morning 
and my servant brings me immediately a cup of coffee & a 
piece of bread — at IX I eat some bread and butter — at I I 
dine — between VII & VIII in the evening I take some light 
supper & at X go faithfully to bed & sleep the sleep that 
knows no waking. — I do not beg you to do the same, for I 
know not how much your health is reduced ; but when you 
have applied the needful means and restored yourself to your 
usual strength — then I do beseech you to adopt this or some 
other system equally simple, strict and rational and do not 
fear the result. — I speak on this subject with an earnestness 
uncommon to me, for I have more than common reasons. — 
I have lost many friends though I am still young — some 
whose talents and acquirements would, in riper years, have 
given a new character to letters among us, and now that I live 
in the midst of men who have grown old under labour which 
always seemed to me without the limits of human strength 
and have compared the annals of literature in other countries 
with its condition here, I can look back and see how gradually 



325] Appendix. 137 

and surely the health and lives of nearly every one of these 
friends were destroyed by their conformity to the habits of 
the society in which they lived — by the inversion of their day 
in study and in meals — & in short, by attempting to live at 
once like students & like men whose occupations are anything 
but intellectual — Beware, then, of this, my dear Gilmer — The 
world expects a great deal, from your talents and you can 
easily fulfill these expectations, if you will but preserve your 
health by accomodating your habits to the nature of your 
occupations. 

When I began, I am sure, I intended to have said but a 
word on this subject. — You will not, however, mistake my 
reason. If I valued your health less, I should be less anxious 
to have you preserve it & if I had not placed a portion of my 
happiness on the continuance of your life & did not know that 
you are one who can fill so much of the chasm in our intel- 
lectual state, I should not have been betrayed beyond a letter's 
limit on a subject which after all hardly comes within the 
rubricks of correspondence. 

You inquire after works on Jurisprudence and on Political 
Economy. — On the last there is very little in German Authors 
& what there is of good, is founded on Adam Smith & Burke. 
This is the consequence of their miserable political situation, 
divided into little independent Principalities, which makes all 
their political interests little & insignificant & thus prevents 
liberal general discussions on great interests & questions. — 
On Jurisprudence they have books to confusion & satiety; 
but few, I apprehend, that would much interest an American 
Lawyer, however extensive he makes his horizon, unless it be 
good histories & commentaries on the Roman Law, in which, 
however, the present state of its practice in Germany is, again, 
the chief point kept in view. — If you would like any of these 
(the best are in German not Latin) I can procure them for 
you through a friend who will pass the next summer here, 
though I shall not myself — while at the same time, if you 
should like anything from France or Italy I will gladly serve 



138 Appendix. [326 

you in person as I shall divide the year that begins in May 
between them. Command me I pray you without reserve, 
for besides the pleasure I should feel in serving you, I feel a 
gratification always in sending home good books, for I know 
I can in no way so directly & efficiently serve the interests of 
letters in my native country. 

When you write to Monticellp or visit there, I pray you 
that I may be remembered, for out of my own home I know 
not where I have passed a few days so pleasantly. — Remem- 
ber me, too, yourself — write to me often directing your letters 
as before care of E. Tinckor Boston — & in your next tell me 
your health is better, if you would tell me what will most 
plrase me. — Yrs truly Geo. Ticknor. 



Addressed 
Fkancls W. Gilmer, Esq., 

Winchester ( Virg.) 
Care of 

John Vaughan.Esq. 



Endorsed — Forwarded by J. 
V. who having no letter 
himself wishes to learn some- 
thing of the traveller. 



Philadelphia. Phil. April 26"* 1817 

III. 

Rome Nov. 25. 1817. 

Your letter of May 2d., my dear Gilmer, reached me in 
Paris three months ago, since which I have, until lately, been 
in such constant movement that I have been able to write to 
nobody except to my own family. I thank you for it, how- 
ever, witli a gratitude as warm as if I had been able to 
answer it the same week I received it, and pray you no less 
earnestly to continue me the favor of your correspondence 
than if I had been able to do more to merit it. What grieves 
me the most, however, is the affair of your Books. You 
desire me to procure for you several works on law, literature 
&c but desire me first to consult with Mr. Terrel to know 
whether he had not already purchased them. This letter I 



327] Appendix. 139 

received only six days before I was obliged to leave Paris, 
and, of course, all consultation with him was impossible. I, 
however, did the next best thing, it seemed to me, I could, — 
I took the letter to Geneva — added to Mr. Terrel's list the 
books I did not find on it, for, on inquiry, I learned he, too, 
had been able to do nothing, — and gave him the address of 
the De Bures Booksellers, who, as they have twice sent Books 
to Mr. Jefferson & often to other Persons in America, will no 
doubt be able to send yours safely. Indeed, I trust, they 
have by this time reached you ; and this is my only consola- 
tion when I think of them ; for nothing gives me so much 
pleasure as to do precisely this sort of service to my friends ; 
because I know how delightful and difficult it is for them to 
receive good books from Europe and how much more useful 
a service I render to my country by sending such than I 
can ever render in any other way. You will have your books 
I doubt not, but I should rather you would have had them 
through me. — 

In Geneva, I saw a good deal of Mr. Terrel. I wish, we 
had a great many more young men like him in Europe, — for 
he is improving his time, I am persuaded, remarkably well, 
instead of losing it and worse than losing it, as ninety nine 
out of the hundred who come here, do. He is destined, I 
presume, by the course of studies he talked to me about, to be 
a Politician and though that is a kind of trade for which I 
have little respect in any country, I am glad he seems to be 
learning its elements with such enlarged & philosophical 
views ; and especially that he mingles with it no small por- 
tions of physical science & literature. The old adage may be 
true in Europe respecting learning, — that it is better to culti- 
vate a Province than to conquer an Empire — but really for an 
American politician and for any one engaged in the liberal 
administration of a free government, a little of that equivocal 
information that we call General Knowledge is absolutely 
indispensable and will prevent him from doing and saying 
a thousand of the foolish things our Politicians do & say 



140 Appendix. [328 

so often. Terrel, however, pursues his studies, as the pro- 
fessors told me[,] in such a manner, that all his important 
knowledge will really be thorough and, what it gave me no 
less pleasure to remark, he has so lived among the persons, 
with whom he has been intimately connected at Geneva, as to 
gain not only their respect but their affection, and confidence. 
Since leaving Geneva two months ago, my whole journey 
has been mere Poetry ; and I have truly enjoyed myself more 
in this short space than in all the time that preceded it, since 
I left home. The Plains of Lombardy are the Garden of 
Europe and the world. When this phrase is applied elsewhere, 
I know very well how to interpret it and what qualifications 
are to be made ; but when I recollect the waste of fertility 
formed by the bed of the Po & its tributary waters — the 
bright verdue of the fields — the luxuriant abundance of the 
harvests — the several parcels of laud marked by fanciful 
copses of trees — & the whole united by the graceful festoons 
of the vines, hanging with purple & heavy with the wealth 
of autumn — while everywhere about me were the frolicks and 
gaiety of the vintage, it seems to me as if I had been in fairy 
land or amidst the unmingled beauties of the primitive cre- 
ation, 

"for nature here 
"Wantoned as in her prime, and played at will 
Her virgin fancies, pouring forth more sweet 
"Wild above rule or art, enormous bliss. 1 

And then, too, as soon as as you have passed the Apennines, 
you come upon the very classical soil of Roman literature and 
history and every step you take is marked by some monument 
that bears witness to their glories. This continues until you 
arrive, twenty five miles before you reach Rome, at the last 
village and enter upon the unalleviated desolation of the Cam- 
pagna. I cannot express to you the secret horror I felt while 
passing over this mysterious waste, which tells such a long 

1 Here a strange hand has inserted P. Le. B. V. v. 294. 



329] Appendix. 141 

tale to the feelings and the imagination or how glad I felt, as 
if I had awaked from a dreadful dream, when turning sud- 
denly round a projecting height of Monte Mario, at whose 
feet the Tiber winds in sullen majesty along, Rome with its 
seven hills and all its towers & turrets & Pinnacles — with the 
castle of St. Angelo and the Dome of St. Peters — Rome in all 
the solemnity & splendor of the Eternal City burst at once 

upon my view — But, my dear G , if I begin thus to tell 

you of all my (?) in my travel's history, I shall never stop. 

Farewell, then ; and remember me always and write to me 
often. — Remember me to Mr. Jefferson with great respect, 
when you see him or write to him and believe me yours very 
sincerely 

Geo. Ticknoe. 

My address remains always the same — E. Ticknor, Boston. — 



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SEVENTH SERIES: Social Science, Education, and 
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I. Arnold Toynbee. By F. C. Montague, Fellow of Oriel College. With an Account 
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V-VI. English Culture in Virginia. The Jefferson -Gilmer Letters. By Professor 
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The City Government of Chicago ; With a Bibliography on Municipal Govern- 
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The Study of History in France and Germany. By Professor Paul Fredericq 
of the University of Ghent. Translated by Henrietta Leonard, A. B. (Smith Coll.) 

Federal Government in Canada. By James G. Bourinot, LL. D., Clerk of the 
Canadian House of Commons. 

Local Government in Wisconsin. By David E Spencer, A. B. (Univ. Wis.). 

Higher Education of the People. A Series of Social and Educational Studies. 
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2. Social Work in Australia and London. By Mr. Wm. Grey, of London. 

3. Encouragement of Higher Education. By Professor Herbert B. Adams. 

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SERIES V.— Municipal Government, History and Politics. 559pp. $3.50. 

SERIES VI.— The History of Co-operation in the United States. 540pp. $3.50. 

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Historical and Political Science 

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History is past Politics and Politics present History — Freeman 



SEVENTH SERIES 
V-VI 



English Culture in Virginia 



A Study op the Gilmer Letters and an Account op the 

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I. An Introduction to American Institutional History. By Professor 

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IV. Recent American Socialism. By Richard T. Ely. 50 cents. 

V-VI-VII. Maryland Local Institutions :— The Land System; Hun- 
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FOURTH SERIES.— Municipal Government and 
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VII-VIII-IX. History of the Land Question in the United States. By 
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VII. The Influence of the War of 1812 upon the Consolidation of the 
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VIII. Notes on the Literature of Charities. By Herbert B. Adams. 
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IX. The Predictions of Hamilton and De Tocqueville. By James 
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X. The Study of History in England and Scotland. By Paul Frederick, 

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XII. European Schools of History and Politics. By Andrew D. White. 
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SIXTH SERIES.— The History of Co-operation in 
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SEVENTH SERIES— Social Science, Education, and 
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I. Arnold Toynbee. By F. C. Montague, Fellow of Oriel College. With an 
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V-VI. English Culture in Virginia. A Study of the Gilmer Letters, 
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University of the South. 

VII-VIII-IX. The River Towns of Connecticut. Wethersfield, Hartford 
and Windsor. By Charles M. Andrews, Fellow in History, J. H. U. 

X-XI-XII. Federal Government in Canada. By James G. Bourinot, 
LL. 1)., Clerk of the Canadian House of Commons. 



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